A Moment In Your Eyes
by Mitchi Takahashi
Summary: Naruto has been taken by the Akatsuki... but wait, why did he leave willingly? And what is this feeling he has for Itachi? What about Sasuke and the others he left behind? YAOI WARNING Rating has been changed due to lemons and violence. COMPLETED FINALLY!
1. Blue Sky and Red Eyes

**A/N: sigh I love ItaNaru! However just a warning, CONTAINS YAOI! So if you don't like it, don't read and if you decide to read it even though you don't like it, don't flame me for it, and if you can't read…. Then go away. This starts out as NaruSasu first though, but that's only to lead into the actual plot! And if any one wants to be a beta, feel free to ask, I'm almost always looking for one! Oh, and I might be adding another pairing in but I don't know which one yet, so feel free to make suggestions! Um, and constructive criticism appreciated though not entirely loved and well… yah, uh, just start reading it already! **

**Oh yeah! DISCLAIMER: I don't own Naruto or any of the characters; if I did Itachi would be wearing a whole lot of NOTHING! (Same goes for Kakashi (Insert evil fangirl laughter)**

Blue eyes studied an equally blue sky as Uzumaki Naruto lay on the ground. He was feeling strangely that day and didn't know why, it had all happened when he had been training with Sasuke. They had fallen to the ground on top of each other and for some reason, Naruto had been slightly aroused. He remembered how brightly he had blushed and then… he had bolted to the clearing in which he now was. He let one leg hang down over the side of the branch he was on and sighed. For some other reason though, he felt nervous. Something came up behind him and he jumped away snarling as he landed on all fours. A tall man stood on the limb where he had been. He smiled a wide smile with many sharp teeth and jumped down to stand in front of Naruto.

"What do you want fish-breath?" asked Naruto backing away slightly.

"Oh, insults. A step up from the last time you saw me huh? Then you were so scared you couldn't move!" Kisame said shrugging as he shifted the Samehada slightly. Itachi walked out of the shadow of the forest to come up beside him and Naruto felt a strong tug at his heart as he studied Sasuke's older brother. Itachi definitely had a sexy look with his long hair pulled back and a tight fishnet shirt that showed somewhat through the partly opened cloak he wore. He was much prettier then Sasuke, though he resembled him a lot and the blood red sharingan in his eyes just made him all the nicer to look at. Naruto didn't comment when he saw Itachi, angering him wasn't something to do.

"Well, now I see Uchiha Itachi and slimy gills. However, you still haven't answered my question," Naruto said with a slight smirk as Kisame scowled.

"Oh, I think you know very well why we're here," said Itachi in a monotone voice. Naruto didn't even glance at him. It was too much like looking at Sasuke who had just been retrieved from Orochimaru's hide out.

Naruto shrugged looking right above Itachi instead of at him, "So what are you waiting for? If you want to kidnap me go ahead," Kisame narrowed his eyes.

"Are you saying you aren't going to fight?" asked Itachi with no emotion.

"Yup, but I ask you to only give me one day, then we'll met here after night fall and I'll come willingly," Naruto said with a yawn. The sun was just starting to go down and the sky was aflame with its colors.

"Fine, but if you try to skip out or come with someone else to try and defeat us, we won't go easy on any of you," Itachi said before turning and walking away. Kisame looked back and forth between Naruto and Itachi before exhaling loudly and following Itachi into the shadows. Naruto cracked his neck before setting off towards the village to do one thing before he left.

Sasuke opened his door slowly to find Naruto standing there uncertainly. "What?" He asked with a blank face.

"Uh, I… Sasuke, um I just wanted to…" Naruto stammered turning red. Sasuke shifted his weight onto his other foot.

"Come on, out with what ever idiotic thing you're trying to say," Sasuke said bored.

"I don't know how to say it though…" Naruto said quietly, Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "Sasuke, I'm sorry…" he said before starting to turn away.

"Sorry for what?" Sasuke asked spinning Naruto to face him, Naruto blushed looking into Sasuke's eyes.

Naruto didn't know what to do, so… he just did what his emotions told him to. He kissed Sasuke. Sasuke was stunned as their lips met and just stood there before closing his eyes and placing a hand on the back of Naruto's head. Naruto opened his eyes slowly and pulled away, "Um, I have to… go somewhere…" he said breathless as he blushed and started to back away. Sasuke just blinked.

"Where?" Sasuke asked with a smirk.

"Dunno yet…" murmured Naruto, Sasuke smiled and pulled him back.

"Then I guess it can wait," he whispered before pulling Naruto into his apartment and shutting the door.

oOo

Naruto slowly opened his eyes to the sound of birds chirping outside the window in front of him. He went to rub the night cap he always wore but hit his hair instead. Sitting up he looked around him, his clothes were all over the floor and so were Sasuke's. He blinked and looked around, this wasn't his bed either. He struggled to remember what had happened last night and blushed when he did. Sasuke walked into the room scrubbing his hair with a towel.

His eyes rested on Naruto, "So, dobe, you're finally up. I'd take a shower if I was you, borrow any clothes you want. We can stop by your apartment before we head to training so you can change," he said before throwing the towel into a hamper across the room. Naruto nodded quietly chewing on his lip. "What? You have your calculating look on."

Naruto blinked, "What? Oh it's nothing to worry about. I was just thinking about something."

"About what?" Naruto adverted his eyes, a sign that he was about to lie.

"What type of ramen I should have today!" said Naruto falsely cheery, Sasuke frowned.

"What ever, just hurry up and take a shower," he said. "The bathroom is just down the hall so you shouldn't get lost looking for it." Naruto nodded and tried to collect his things without getting out of the bed, Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "What's the matter now?"

"Well, I'm kinda naked…" Naruto mumbled and Sasuke's eyes went wide.

"Oh, um… I'll be in the kitchen," he said blushing as he slipped out of the room and ran down the hall.

Naruto murmured something to him self and cautiously made his way to the bathroom, making sure that there was no way anyone could have possibly seen him. He sighed when he locked the door behind him and he turned on the water. Naruto stripped what little he had put on for his trek down the hall and climbed into the shower. He let the water run over him as he thought of how Sasuke would take it when Naruto left with the Akatsuki, probably not very well. Naruto slumped his shoulders at the thought of leaving Sasuke but he felt like he was kidding himself with thinking that he loved the younger Uchiha. Naruto closed his eyes and turned his face up to the flow of water that was streaming down on him. For once in his life he didn't feel like pretending to happy when he wasn't and he knew that not acting like a hyperactive loud-mouth was going to worry the others and ruin his mask of happiness; but right now he didn't feel like cosplaying the younger knuckle headed ninja he used to be. With a slight sigh he stretched out his arms and opened his eyes letting his tears mix with the water. Anyone who saw through his mask would know how much he hurt inside when he heard the whispers of the villagers around him, they would know how much he loved the village… and they would know how much he loved the people he knew. He hated himself for being the way he was, having the Kyubi inside of him wasn't his choice. He yawned and grabbed the soap next to him completely absorbed in his thoughts.

"Naruto, we have to be leaving soon!" said Sasuke pounding on the door. Naruto snapped out of his thoughts ad finished rinsing his hair before stepping out and reaching for a towel. He noticed something about the towels, aside from the Uchiha crest on a corner of all of them, the smaller towels meant for hair were a red color while the larger ones for the body were white. Naruto sighed; even their towels could make the Uchiha crest. He grabbed a large white one and started to scrub his body with it. He looked around the room and saw a large closet, opening it up he found many shirts and pants in Sasuke's size. Stifling a giggle he opened up a drawer near the bottom and withdrew a pair of boxers, they were covered in the Uchiha crest. He slipped them on trying not to laugh loudly at how silly he looked in them before grabbed a neatly folded shirt and slipping it on as well. He slid out of the room fully dressed and grabbed the remnants of his stuff strewn across the floor. Now the trick was to get to his house with time to change and to not be seen in Uchiha clothing.

Sasuke smiled when he saw Naruto in his clothes and tried to suppress the laughter that threatened to burst from him when Naruto glared at him. "Let's get to your house quickly and hopefully without being seen. It would raise some questions if you were seen in my clothes…" he said as calmly as he could. Naruto nodded and shoved his dirty clothes into his small travel back pack that he kept rolled up in his equipment satchel. Sasuke nodded and they set off out through a window so no one would notice they were leaving. They got to Naruto's house soon after not having been spotted. Naruto ran into his messy bedroom and began to strip off Sasuke's clothes. Only when he was in his own orange clothes did he relax. He grabbed the clothes he had pulled off and tried to fold them the best he could before shoving them into the first bag he grabbed. He tossed the bag to Sasuke when he walked into the kitchen and grabbed a piece of toast that Sasuke had made for him. Sticking part of it in his mouth he walked out side.

"We should be going about now," he said to Sasuke watching a cloud float lazily across the sky. Sasuke nodded.

"I'll come pick the clothes up afterwards, okay?" he asked throwing the bag onto the couch. Naruto just shrugged.

"I'll race you to the training ground!" he yelled over his shoulder taking off across the roof tops. Sasuke caught up with him easily and they ran shoulder to shoulder for the most part until they saw the training ground. Putting on an extra burst of speed Naruto pulled ahead by a meager foot and landed beside Sakura gasping for air. Sasuke landed beside him and leaned against a tree wiping sweat from his brow. Training commenced as usual, Sasuke and Naruto sparred for a little, then they worked with Rock Lee and Gai to get better taijutsu skills before Sasuke went to work on his copy Jutsus with Kakashi and Naruto went for work with genjutsu with Sakura and Tsunade. They stopped hours later, the sun was low in the sky and Naruto cursed. "Sasuke, let's go get some ramen!" he yelled trying to smile. Sasuke nodded and placed a hand over his growling stomach. They raced to Ichiraku Ramen and skidded to a halt Naruto crashing into Sasuke who had stopped short.

The sun was down now and in front of them stood a tall man with long black hair. "Itachi…" Naruto whispered almost as a curse. He had enjoyed being with Sasuke for the little time they had been together but know that fun was over. Sasuke's body went rigid as Itachi used a simple paralysis jutsu on him. Naruto hung his head, "Sorry Sasuke, but we had a deal. One day was all I got, but now the day is over. Good bye," he said tears in his eyes as he walked over to Itachi.

Itachi nodded slightly, "Let's go then, Kisame took care of the guards at the gate so we should be able to travel fairly quickly." Naruto nodded trying to wipe the tears off his cheeks, Itachi noticed and his normally blank face frowned.


	2. The Red Moon

Naruto was looking up at the sky with equally blue eyes, but this time the sky seemed like such a forlorn thing, not what he had once marveled at. He wasn't being treated badly or anything, it was just that he had willing left behind everything he loved and couldn't place his finger on why! He had left a message on his table at home before he had left the apartment the previous morning about what was to happen and he had been glad when Sasuke didn't notice it. He wondered if anyone had found it yet…

In Konoha:

Sakura stood knocking on Naruto's door; she had just come from Sasuke's. "Naruto open up! Sasuke is unconscious and he's not waking up!" She tried the handle surprised to find it unlocked. A little worried she walked into his house and looked around. She spotted nothing out of the ordinary, except the fact that it was clean until her eyes fell on a small piece of paper. It looked like it had been torn of the edge of a scroll and it had Naruto's chicken scratch all over it. The only weird thin was that it was only one sentence, Sakura frowned and picked it up. _The red moon came; I have gone willingly with it, my regards to the Sakura tree and the flowers around her. _It sounded like something from a poem and Sakura sighed. Since when was Naruto a literary type? Then it hit her; the red moon reference, the Sakura tree… Naruto had gone with the Akatsuki and he had known Sakura would figure out the note the fastest. The note started to slip from her numb fingers before she clenched her fist around it and set off towards Tsunade's office her face set.

"What is it girl?" asked Tsunade not looking up from her papers as Sakura burst in the room.

"Na-Na-Naruto's gone!" she stammered as she tried to catch her breath. "I think he left with the Akatsuki!"

Tsunade's head snapped up, "What!?" was the barked reply.

"He left a note, it clearly states so," she said holding out the piece of paper. Tsunade took it and read quickly her lips moving as if she was speaking the words without making a sound.

"Red dawn, how did a knuckle head like that know to use a translation for Akatsuki?" She asked.

"Naruto's a lot smarter then he lets on, one night I watched him identify every ANBU near the Ichiraku ramen stand. He is also gifted in simple codes and such as he has clearly shown here," said Tsunade's other apprentice coming up beside Sakura. Tsunade nodded slightly.

"Get every jounin and ANBU whose available here and any of the genin or chuunin Sakura approves into this room in less then half an hour."

"Yes ma'am." Sakura listed off several ninja she specifically requested before the girl set off. In a few minutes the room was packed with ninja attempting to not be pushed out of the room as they crammed themselves in.

"SHUT UP!" screamed Tsunade. Everyone quieted and turned to look at her. "Ok, we have a problem on our hands, Naruto was taken by the Akatsuki and we do not have any information on where they have gone. Therefore you are going to be split into teams of six and fan out over the area around the village looking for any sign of where they might be headed. Find one clue report it to the nearest messenger shinobi or anything that could get it to me as quickly as possible, and Shino, no really creepy bugs spelling a message out with my food. If you have to use bugs, use them to write on paper with _ink…" _Shino sighed, "Ok now that that is cleared up, GET TO IT!" Everyone was quickly paired up by Sakura who placed at least two ANBU to each group before they burst out of the room, only five remained. Sakura walked over to them and smiled slightly, or at least tried to.

Sasuke, Shikamaru, Kakashi, Ino, and Iruka all nodded at her and they set off easily moving through the woods without communication. _Hmmm, so Sakura has some of his best friends in a group with no ANBU. Interesting move, maybe she's hoping that if they find him that he won't feel as threatened… _Tsunade thought trying without success to concentrate of the papers in front of her. She itched to be out in the field with the rest of them, but she knew it would be a huge risk that she just couldn't take. Sighing she scribbled her name on a slip and leaned back to stare at the ceiling her brain swarming with thoughts.

oOo

Itachi looked at Naruto's back, for some reason it irked him that Naruto had been ignoring him and only talking to Kisame. He sighed as his eyes traveled down the younger boy's body to rest on his hips, mainly his butt. Itachi's eyes widened when he found he was enjoying the site and he snapped his eyes up only to find them wandering down again, he mentally kicked himself for acting like such a pervert before trying to smooth the threatened blush from his face. He attempted to focus on Naruto's hair or Kisame's back but found his eyes, yet again, wandering south. He slapped himself quietly and continued to stare straight ahead, down goes the eyes and Itachi actually blushed as an explicit image entered his head. He shook it violently out and began to watch the red swirl on Narutos back. Down went the eyes and then came the mental scolding. _What the hell is wrong with you? That's the fifth _(1) _time you've done that! Now stop it now, don't go corrupting your mind with DEFFENTLY unwanted thoughts of the kitsune boy! _Naruto looked over his shoulder at Itachi and smiled, Itachi gave the Uchiha glare.

Naruto looked out the side of his eyes at Itachi who was sitting at the camp fire next to him; it had been about a day since they had left Konoha. He stared hungrily at the fish over the fire and sighed in mourning for his dead ramen (it had accidentally fallen on the ground and gotten stepped on by Kisame. Poor Ramen.). He smiled at how pretty Itachi was before shaking his head as an explicit thought entered his mind, blushing he adverted his eyes. He glanced over again to find Itachi's eyes on him, "Why are you blushing like that?" Itachi asked with a blank face.

"No reason, I didn't even realize I was blushing," Naruto murmured so no one could hear him. Itachi turned his eyes back to the fire. More explicit thoughts entered Naruto's head and he blushed a bright red. Itachi stood up suddenly and walked over to a tree. He leaned against it his back to everyone else as he began thinking why Naruto had come so willingly with them. Kisame looked between the two and sighed, he had a feeling that things were gonna get interesting in a very disturbing way… really soon.

Suddenly Itachi had an idea, "Naruto, could you come here for a moment?" Naruto looked over at him.

"Sure Itachi-san," he said standing up. Kisame and Itachi were both shocked that he had used the respectful suffix for his name; he had only ever done that for Kakashi and Iruka (that they knew about). Naruto reached Itachi and smiled slightly.

"What would you do if your… friends from Konoha come looking for you?" he asked looking into the forest. Naruto thought hard.

"I'd fight them off," he answered as if it was apparent what he would have done.

"Why?" Itachi said with no emotion as he turned his sharingan eyes to the little kitsune.

"I dunno, I guess that I just really don't like being in the village. So many people there hate me and only a handful of them notice that I exist. Plus, it's more fun being with you and Kisame, even though you're anti-social and Sharky looks like he's about to eat me!" Itachi smirked his near invisible smirk as Kisame burst out in laughter.

"So I'm anti-social, huh?" Itachi said looking up at the sky.

"Well, you don't talk a lot and you're never showing emotion. I mean dude, lighten up!" Naruto said with a wide fox-like grin.

"I think they're burning," Itachi said walking over and pulling a fish out of the fire. Kisame swore violently and started to pick them out, handing two to Naruto who devoured them quickly.

"So, have you guys ever tried ramen?" Naruto asked, as comfortable as if they were on vacation instead of him being kidnapped. Little did they notice a small beetle crawling onto Naruto's shoulder as thy chatted (or rather Kisame and Naruto chatted and Itachi just said the occasional word or RARE sentence). Naruto even wanted to see how much of a reaction he could get from his sexy no jutsu, which had proceeded to give Kisame a violent nose bleed and Itachi… a blink. Shino narrowed his eyes as he watched from the beetle's eyes. Why were they acting so much like friends when even Sasuke had never seen this side of Naruto?

**A/N: (1) I went back and counted. I'm such a dumb ass. That section is also about as far out of character I'm going to let Itachi get… hopefully.**

**I know, I know. This chapter is really short but it's setting you up for what is going to be happening in the next chapter! 'Squeal' Well… uh, so I guess to lengthen this slightly I shall include a slight… what should I call it?**

**Itachi: The thoughts of an idiot?**

**Sasuke: The memories of a moron?**

**Naruto: Different types of Ramen?**

**Everyone: 'smacks Naruto hard'**

**Sakura: The teaching of the second most beautiful young female?**

**Ino: More like the third most beautiful! I am the most beautiful girl around after all!**

**Sakura: Ino Pig!**

**Ino: Billboard brow!**

**Shikamaru: How bout the shut the fuck up chronicles? 'Glares at Ino and Sakura'**

**Choji: (sing songy) would you like some apple pie with that? Would like some apple pie with that?**

**Everyone including me: 'sweatdrop'**

**Choji: Uh… hi…**

**Now back to me: Well…! Let's just skip it for now, I promise I'll come up with something special for short chapters that will either lighten the mood or make you burst your spleen laughing too hard! Bye for now!**


	3. Moving On A Bond Unbroken

**A/N: Well I still don't know what I'll call the special section at the end so don't blame me for it… I'll just rack my brain for ideas… oh wait! I came up with a title in Akira of the Akatsuki! Off to my profile!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ah here's the name _Official Super Awesome and Hilarious Short Story of My Life! _Part whatever it is at the time… It's gonna be two now but if you want to read part one it is chapter six of Akira of the Akatsuki! So uh… let's get on with the story perhaps?**

**Disclaimer which I seem to have forgotten in chapter two: I do not own anything involving Naruto merchandise patents or the rights to them… I tried to buy them on eBay but that's not exactly legal… though I did find a pretty nifty head band for 75 cents...**

Naruto was just starting to fall asleep when he felt something hopping up and down on his face. He froze before lifting a hand up and squinting at what was in his hand. A small beetle that Naruto recognized all too well, his eye's widened and he shoved the beetle into his pocket hoping he wasn't crushing it. "Itachi! Itachi!" he shook the man awake.

"What is it?" asked the man partially still asleep.

"I think that the Konoha ninja know where we are! I just found Shino's bug on me, that means he and the others are most likely headed our way right now!" Itachi sat up quickly, now fully awake, he hit Kisame over the head, hard I might say.

"Wake up, time for action!" he whispered whacking Kisame again. Kisame groaned mumbled something incoherent then rolled onto his back. Itachi glared and Naruto smirked.

"Let me try something," Naruto tickled Kisame's sides until the man woke up a few seconds later. "We're about to be attacked and you want five more minutes? Even I'm not that lame! **(This is where he says "believe it" and every viewer/reader wants to hit him on the head for it)**" he whispered sticking his tongue out as Kisame grumbled at him. They pulled on their cloaks and Naruto retrieved his jacket and pulled it on. They hadn't gotten to much undressed for obvious reasons, but that didn't mean they were going to sleep uncomfortably.

"I thought we would have another day at least, I guess we underestimated them," Itachi said quietly checking his kunai and shuriken over. Naruto grimaced as he thought of facing off his friends to go with an s-level criminal.

Why he was doing it he didn't know, he thought about what Iruka might say… _'It's a thing called love,' NO!_ _I am not in love with Itachi-sama… did I just call him Sama? I mean san! San, san, san! _Naruto checked to make sure that his chakra was at a controllable level before pulling the handle of his kunai out slightly so that it would be easier to grab. He doubted that the other two would need them, but he definitely would. He sensed a familiar chakra in the bushes a few feet away from him and sighed, Sakura still needed training in hiding chakra though she had amazing control of it. He lifted a finger slightly to signal where he felt presences and Itachi blinked; a sign that he understood. They waited a little longer, pretending that they were going to be traveling by moon light for a little when the first shuriken came. They snapped into fighting position, back to back in a triangle, as ANBU surrounded them.

"Naruto, we're here to bring you back home," said Sakura coming out of the bushes and standing in between two of the silent black-ops. Naruto lowered his gaze in shame but didn't say anything; he just kept his kunai raised and his body ready for the fight that was positive to come. When he didn't say anything Sakura frowned, "Naruto? Are you alright? Why aren't you moving to come with us? Those two are out numbered, if they try taking you back we could kill them easily." Naruto snapped his head up at that.

"You aren't going to kill them," he said slowly but fiercely. "I want to go with them," he added very quietly, Sakura barely heard. The ANBU shifted uncomfortably as if they were conversing silently if he was brain washed or placed under genjutsu. Naruto gulped and met Sakura's gaze. She could tell he was himself and he knew what he was saying.

"But why?" she asked sadly her eyebrows knit in concern.

Naruto mumbled something not even Itachi and Kisame could hear. Sakura gasped as she read his lips. Her mouth fell open and gazed at him sadly. "I doubt that what you're saying is true. It's probably a trick or illusion," she whispered trying to make sense of everything.

"No, it's not an illusion or trick. How could he do that to me without even talking that much? We met one night, I made a deal, and we left the next. End of story, no weird Jutsus, no tricks, nothing," Naruto said defiantly. Itachi was listening intently to the conversation but he never let his guard down. He caught the glint of metal in a nearby tree and caught the kunai aimed for Naruto.

"What, who threw that?" Sakura looked in the direction it had come from to see Sasuke walking into the moonlight furious.

"Naruto, you traitor! How could you run away with him?" he yelled pointing at Itachi. Itachi was now thoroughly confused though he showed nothing, "You tricked me! I actually fell for it too! I actually believed that you loved me as much as I love you!" Everyone just stared and Naruto turned his face away.

"I'm sorry… I never meant to trick you. I guess we both mistook lust for love," Naruto said clearly a tear making its way down his cheek to fall off the tip of his chin.

Sasuke wiped away a small tear that also traveled down his cheek as he looked up to the stars, "We might have, but I had hoped that it could have turned into so much more." Naruto looked up at the stars as well.

"I guess that this is the end of what we had for that short time…" he said another tear starting to make its way down his cheek. It didn't follow the same path as the other but it dripped from the same point. Naruto wiped his face with a single hand. "I really do think I loved you, but I'm sorry, I don't anymore." Naruto and Sasuke met each others gazes with a silent agreement and they jumped at each other kunai raised. Everyone knew better then to get involved in their tussle as they clashed weapons, neither gaining the advantage. It looked almost as if they were trying to dance theirfeelings away. Both stopped briefly, circled, and then sprung at each other again as if following some nonexistent beat. Sakura watched with saddened eyes as Itachi calculated possible ways of avoiding a mass battle as a shower of sparks illuminated the clearing for a second. Naruto smiled a little as he forced Sasuke to back away briefly before Sasuke started to smile in turn when Naruto moved back. They became slightly happier as they fought before finally stopping, Naruto next to Itachi again and Sasuke next to Kakashi who had just appeared out of the forest.

"I think I understand a little better now," Sasuke said with a one sided smile as he and Naruto gasped for air. "However, that still doesn't change the fact that I'm dragging you back to Konoha by your hair no matter how hard you fight."

"I also think I understand a little better what happened between us, but that doesn't mean that I won't give this fight my all. I'm staying with him and that is final," Sasuke and Naruto nodded and everyone took a fighting stance. The actual battle was about to begin. Naruto looked up at Itachi, "Ready Itachi-_senpai_?" he asked with a mischievous smirk.

He nodded. "What about you?" Kisame smiled a hellish grin that made one of the ANBU shiver slightly.

"HELL YEAH!" he said showing his sharp teeth. The ANBU nodded to each other before readying their weapons.

"Let's get this show on the road!" Naruto said smiling at Sasuke who smiled back slightly. Even thought they were on different sides they were still best friends, it had been the same way when Naruto had finally reached Sasuke's heart during his time with Orochimaru. Everyone had their weapons in a fighting position or their hands free to make a jutsu when the shuriken that set it all off was thrown by an impatient Sasuke. Kisame used a water jutsu to drown two of the ANBU while he unwrapped the Samehada and knocked away another ANBU. Itachi had activated his sharingan long ago and was using the Mangekyou to bring down several of the ANBU on his side narrowing the once ten down to three. Sasuke and Naruto butted heads once more, this time their tussle was joined by Sakura and Kakashi trying to get Naruto worn down enough that they could transport him home. Naruto was knocked back by a well place blow to his abdomen. Itachi saw him flying through the air out of the corner of his eye and caught him by the back of the shirt as he began to pass by. He set him upright and Naruto turned to smile at him before someone was pushed into Naruto.

Itachi's eyes went wide as they were both knocked to the ground and their lips pressed together. Naruto pulled away as Itachi rolled to the side thoroughly disgusted with the thoughts that were traveling through his head. They were both spitting and making hacking noises well hunched over on the ground. Surprisingly they weren't hit by anything before they stood back up and resumed the fight pretending nothing had happened. Naruto touched his lips softly before springing back at Sasuke and Sakura who were dodging some ANBU who were jumping back to try and avoid Kisame's Samehada. The battle was rather short lived as Shikamaru attempted to catch Itachi and Kisame in his shadow possession only to be taken out by the Mangekyou when Itachi looked at him. Shino also attempted to enter the battle… with no success as his bugs were destroyed in Naruto's fire ball jutsu (**a rather weak one, but a fireball none the less**).

Soon Kisame and Itachi had put all the ANBU around them out of order and the others were forced to retreat until they could gather their forces again. Itachi picked Naruto up and deposited him on Kisame's back. Despite his complaints Naruto was too exhausted to even think about trying to travel on his own. They arrived at a small cave a little while later with the moon now low in the sky. Itachi glanced at it and pursed his lips every so slightly, "I was hoping for a little longer to rest without having to go to far into the day," Kisame said depositing Naruto on the ground, not gently I might add. The boy groaned and turned onto his side not waking up. "He has impressive sleeping habits…"

Itachi turned to look at the young Kyubbi** (1)** on the ground. "We should get into the cave; I'll place a genjutsu on it so no one will notice it. We'll leave as soon as we can." Kisame looked at Itachi, and smirked.

"Okie Dokie Buckaroo," he said smiling as he got the Uchiha glare. He bent down and grabbed the boy by the collar dragging him into the cave, not missing any of the rocks on the way. Itachi placed his hands in a tiger hand seal before he flew through seals quicker then the eye could see, even his own Sharingan was slow on following them. He smiled as a slight shimmer in the air surrounded them before he walked into the cave and sat down. He jerked his head towards Naruto with a raised eyebrow.

"It'll take him a few hours and at least one decent sized meal then he'll be the annoying hyperactive knuckle head he always is," Kisame answered his unasked question. Itachi nodded slightly before turning his gaze to the ceiling which was covered in stalactites that dripped with a slow but consistent rhythm. He was lost in his thoughts of what Naruto might have said to the Konoha nin that had them so surprised, what might have gone on between Sasuke and Naruto **(A/N though I would think that that was PRETTY obvious)** and what might be compelling Naruto to stay with them so willingly, even if it meant never being able to return to the place that he claimed he would one day become hokage of. Naruto stirred and Itachi's eyes were almost automatically brought towards him. Slowly the young ninja opened his eyes and looked around.

"How did we get into a cave?" he asked sleepily.

"We walked here; you fell asleep on my back."

Naruto turned towards Kisame and gave a slight grin before turning back to Itachi. "What's up with you?" he didn't expect an answer.

"I was just thinking," both Naruto and Kisame were shocked that Itachi had chosen to take the time to answer. "What?" Itachi asked his face blank **(as always)**.

"You answered when it wasn't necessary to do so… a sign of the apocalypse."

Itachi glared at Naruto who gave him the thumbs up. _Is it possible that he has already forgotten about our kiss? Even if it was by accident it was still a kiss… and he doesn't strike me as the type to forget so easily. Maybe he didn't mind it or is trying to pretend it didn't happen. _Itachi thought looking back to the stalactites. Naruto looked up to, "Why are those things there?" he asked. He soon hated himself for it as the ex-water shinobi launched into a long and boring explanation of how water and minerals can make them. "If I could gnaw my ears off I would," Naruto whispered to Itachi as he sat near him. Kisame was so caught up in his rants on how minerals could harden that he hadn't even notice Naruto had moved. Itachi looked at Naruto.

"Wouldn't gnawing off your ears just give him a reason to tease you?" he asked quietly. Naruto shrugged.

"True, I guess gnawing my ears off wouldn't be the best solution… maybe I could make him bite his tongue?"

"He's done that before, he gets over it quickly…"

"Hmmm, then what can we do to make him shut up?"

"Poke him in the gills. He might kill you for it, but it works."

"Wait… are we actually having a conversation in which you speak instead of using the slightest amount of body language?" Naruto looked wide eyed at Itachi.

"I think so; it's just so hard to make you go away without talking. You don't seem to care about glares much."

Naruto smiled goofily, "That comes from having been around your brother. He glares a LOT. Though I must say, your glares are much more powerful then his."

Itachi looked out the corner of his eye at Naruto. "Humph."

"Now you're turning back anti-social. It's going to take me longer to break you of that habit then it did with Sa… Kakashi," Naruto said quickly. He felt that it wasn't such a good thing to mention Sasuke around Itachi, especially after they had just had an encounter with him.

Itachi looked out the cave entrance. "We should get going soon," he said loud enough to get Kisame to shut up. "Not that I don't mind your lecture Kisame, it's just that we really shouldn't keep them waiting."

Kisame nodded slightly and started to make sure everything was packed away before Itachi lowered the barrier and they jumped out into the cover of the forest. Itachi and Kisame were noticing that they way Naruto ran seemed so much like the way a fox would run; lengthening his body out, gripping what he touches with his hands then, springing off again with his feet. Maybe it was just a way that the fox expressed itself in him, or maybe it was because Naruto found that it was more fun to run that way, who knew? By sundown they were crossing the border of the Fire country headed north into Waterfall country. Soon they would turn east and come to a range of mountains in the Earth country. Itachi glanced at Naruto, he was probably going to regret it if they were forced to kill him for the Nine Tailed Fox…

**A/N: (1) I'm going to end up using both spellings of Kyubbi most likely (Kyuubi or Kyubbi it depends of the translator on which spelling you use, I just don't always use the same one…"**


	4. Intimate Or Not?

**A/N: Short Chapter, sorry. I just really didn't want to get too much in to what is going to happen next… 'evil laughter' uh… ok, I hope that went unnoticed… well, at the end of the chapter I'm going to answer some of the reviews I've gotten for the past few chapters. I'm probably going to do that every few chapters depending on how many reviews I get, and let me tell you this; this has to be my most popular story so far!**

Naruto yawned and looked at the sky that was ablaze with the colors of a setting sun. The group was stopping for the night in order to rest up in case of another battle and Naruto was waiting for the water to boil. "I see bubbles!" he said loudly jumping up.

"Will you shut up?" Kisame asked with a groan holding his head, "I have a head ache from all your talking!" Naruto stuck out his tongue and resumed staring at the pot. "If you don't stop sticking your tongue out at me I might just so something unpleasant to you…" Kisame said with gritted teeth.

"I always knew you were gay," Naruto said ducking a rock that was thrown at his head. Naruto looked at Itachi who had stood up suddenly.

"I'm going to go and erase some of our tracks, you two stay here…" he mumbled before walking off in a random direction.

"Does he realize that we didn't come that way?" Naruto asked rubbing the side of his nose.

Kisame sighed, "That's always his excuse when he wants some time to himself. Though normally he does go in the right direction, he must have something major on his mind…" Kisame said grabbing the ramen from a pack and pouring the seasoning into the water. "So, you like Itachi don't you?"

"What?!" Naruto screamed jumping up.

"Well, it's pretty obvious the way you look at him. Did you think that you were hiding it?" Kisame said causally stirring some noodles into the water before leaning back and watching them. "Have you thought about telling him?"

"Ack! I would never be allowed to! It's completely out of the question! Plus I don't know how to tell someone something like that!" Naruto said taking his seat.

"Then why don't you show him?" Naruto's eye went wide, "What's the worst that could happen?"

"Two things, he could kill me or he could-"

"Kiss you back?" Kisame said cutting off Naruto. Naruto gulped and nodded slightly. "Well, then pray for the latter. Plus, if we killed you then what use would your little fox be for us? He would however beat you to a pulp if he doesn't feel the same way. I think he does however, he's way more open to you then anyone else, not even I have gotten him to talk this much," he took a breath to say something more but shut his mouth when he heard a rustle in the leaves. Kisame smiled slightly and winked at Naruto as Itachi entered the camp. "I'm going to go get some more firewood; I think we're going to be out soon."

Itachi blinked as Kisame walked off and Naruto started to sweat. "Why are you sweating?"

"What?" Naruto looked away from him, "I didn't even realize I was sweating! I guess I might just be a little hot." _You don't even sound calm at all! Gak! I think I should take Kisame's advice, but what if Itachi doesn't like me the same way? _Naruto fought with himself silently and was so caught up he hadn't noticed that Itachi had come up beside him.

"Naruto," Naruto snapped his head up to look at the Uchiha. "Uh, I need to talk to you…" Itachi said looking over Naruto's head instead of at him. _Did Itachi just say uh? _Naruto shrugged.

"Talk away."

Itachi blinked and didn't say anything. Naruto stood up, "You feeling alright Itachi? You look a little pale," Naruto said frowning. Itachi closed his eyes for a second as Naruto looked up at him with shockingly blue eyes.

Itachi took a deep breath and opened his eyes, _here goes nothing, _he thought to himself. He grabbed the younger boy and pulled him close leaning down to capture Naruto's soft lips. Naruto closed his eyes and began to kiss Itachi back. The Uchiha wasn't expecting this and he pulled away only to be pulled back. He smiled as his lips were pressed to Naruto's and placed his hand on the back of Naruto's head to deepen the kiss. This startled a gasp out of Naruto; Itachi took the chance to slip his tongue into Naruto's mouth. Naruto welcomed him and began to feel Itachi's tongue with his own. Itachi forced a moan down and his hands began to unzip Naruto's jacket; they let it fall to the ground. Naruto fumbled off Itachi's cloak and they slowly made their way to one of the tents leaving a trail of clothing in their wake.

Kisame walked back into the clearing as the flap to the tent was closing and forced back a laugh, even he hadn't thought that a kiss could suddenly launch into something like this. He began to pick up the clothing littering the camp and placed them in a messy pile right outside the tent before tearing his down and reassembling it on the other side of the camp to try and escape the panting and moaning coming from the other.

The ramen sat in a small pot over some coals, forgotten by everyone except a small raccoon that slowly made its way to the pot. He was sniffing when a particularly loud scream scared him back to the darkness. Kisame shuddered and pressed his cloak to his ears in a desperate attempt to block out the nose.

oOo

"You aren't going to like this tidbit of information," Shino said attempting to keep from gagging.

Sakura Sasuke and Kakashi looked towards him, "What's up?" the kunoichi **(excuse any spelling mistakes).**

"I just saw from my bugs," Shino ran over to a bush. Sasuke wrinkled his nose slightly at the sound of retching. Shino walked back over to them wiping his mouth on his sleeve, "Apparently Itachi and Naruto have…" Shino went pale again.

"What happened? Is Naruto alright?" Kakashi asked furrowing his brow.

"Oh no worries, Naruto is better then alright."

"What do you mean Kiba?" Sakura asked turning to face the teen riding on the back of an abnormally large dog.

"Apparently Itachi and Naruto have gotten to know each other better then Naruto and Sasuke did back at the village," Kiba said with a disgusted smirk. "I just saw the outcome of how well they know each other; even Sharky was forced to the other side of the camp…"

Sasuke's eyes went wide and Kakashi flushed and rubbed his mouth through the mask. Sakura frowned, "What?" Everyone turned to the girl.

"And here I thought you were the smartest one of the group," Shikamaru said walking over, "It means that Naruto and Itachi have gotten pretty intimate with each other…" Sakura went pale and walked over to her tent slowly her arms waving about. "She took that better then I expected…" He was about to say something else when they heard Sakura's screaming rants from the tent, "Scratch that."

A/N: 'YAWN' Sorry about not updating a lot, I've been busting my already tired ass in school… MEA's are just absolutely fun! Since this is a computer and everything I doubt you can hear the dripping sarcasm and poison in my voice, however I think you might have caught the hint… Well, on a cheerier note I've been able to plan out the basic plot for future chapters which will make my writing them much quicker!


	5. Waking In Your Arms

Naruto murmured something slightly and squirmed a little not moving away from the warmth pressed to his back. Feeling a sudden shift beside him Itachi slowly opened his eyes to find that Naruto was pressed against him, their legs were intertwined and that they were both completely naked. He gulped and suppressed a blush as he attempt to slip away from the sleeping Kitsune boy. He slid his arm away from Naruto's stomach and had his wrist grabbed as he was pulled back to the boy. Carefully he peeled the younger boy's sleeping fingers of his wrist and pulled his wrist away only to have the boy roll over and fling a leg over Itachi's hip; allowing him to fell everything. Itachi's eyes went wide with surprise and he froze afraid to move incase he accidentally brushed against anything that he didn't want to touch. He scooted his hips away but couldn't wrestle away from Naruto's firm grasp around his torso. He felt slightly comfortable as Naruto's chest rose and fell against his side in a steady pattern. A smile tugged at the corners of his face only to disappear quickly as the boy shifted and once again pressed his parts to Itachi's thigh. Itachi gulped uncomfortably and poked Naruto's shoulder while trying to scoot away. The boy pulled him back and Itachi pushed the boy's shoulder only to get a slight sniff in return as the boy continued to sleep. "Naruto," Itachi whispered. Naruto groaned slightly and began to open his eyes.

Blue gaze met red gaze and Naruto's face turned bright red as he realized that they were both naked. "Could you please get off of me?" Itachi asked with a slightly tight throat. Naruto smirked slightly as his blush receded.

"Are you sure you want me to? It's still pretty dark outside, Kisame won't be up for a while," Naruto teased running a finger across Itachi's chest gently.

"As much as I would love to stay in this position with you, I really think that we should be thinking of getting moving soon," Itachi said as an eye twitched. He didn't admit it, but he really wouldn't mind staying in the tent a while longer, he just didn't think it was very proper… However the way Naruto was purring against his shoulder was threatening to overcome his sense of what was proper. Naruto smiled slightly as he saw the slight hesitation in Itachi's normally blank face as he began to kiss the base of the Uchiha's neck. Itachi forced down a moan but couldn't force down the rising fog that was starting to cloud his judgment. "Naru, really, I don't think that we should- mmmm," he was cut off as Naruto hit a sensitive spot on his neck.

Itachi could feel Naruto's grin of victory as lips were pressed against the soft skin beneath his ear. "That's just not playing fair," he murmured tilting his head to the side in pleasure.

"We're ninjas baby, we don't have to play fair," Naruto whispered his lips brushing against his lovers skin gently with each word. Itachi couldn't handle it anymore. He breathed hard through his nose and flipped over so that he was straddling Naruto's smaller body. Naruto smiled wickedly as Itachi pinned his arms down. Itachi brought his face down so he was inches away from Naruto's face.

"I really hate how seductive you are, damn it," he said with mock anger before bringing his face down to meet Naruto's lips aggressively. Their tongues battled with each other as Naruto pulled his head up from their makeshift pillow to deepen the kiss. He pressed his hips up to meet Itachi's hips and wrenched his arms free to pull Itachi down closer to him. Itachi pulled his lips away and reapplied them to the base of Naruto's neck as his hands began to explore Naruto's muscular chest. He licked here and there and began to nibble at Naruto's earlobe before moving on to working his way down to the chest. He was enjoying the sounds that his little Naruto was making and preceded to try and make him make more as he ran his tongue around one of his nipples before sucking at it playfully. Naruto gasped in pleasure as Itachi ran his nails across his skin causing his back to arch and press their bodies together. Moaning as Itachi moved lower on his body he closed his wide eyes only to have them spring open again as Itachi found a new place to lick and kiss at. He let out a long stream of air as he felt Itachi playing with him. A sharp intake of breath and Naruto squeezed his eyes shut as Itachi started to run his fingers up and down Naruto's sensitive thighs as his tongue danced around his manhood.

Itachi smiled broadly at Naruto's reactions before pulling away breathing hard. He ran his hands across Naruto's stomach his hands moving lower with each touch before he scooted up slightly and began to lick at Naruto's nipples again. Naruto's eyes fluttered in pleasure and he turned slightly to press himself closer to Itachi. Itachi smiled and began to rub Naruto's ass before flipping him over and lying on top of him, his legs off to either side. He licked the base of Naruto's neck and began to suck at a tender spot surprising more pleasured moans from the blonde. He continued to increase Naruto's arousal before he started to press against Naruto's back. He got the wanted reaction of Naruto groaning and pushing his hips up as an invitation to him.

oOo

Itachi ran his hand through his loose hair and walked off in the direction of the river that they had found when making camp the previous night. He sighed as set the cloak he had been carrying on a rock dropping his clean clothes and towel on top of it. He looked around suspiciously to make sure that no one was around, mainly Naruto, before he started to slip out of his clothing. His body was sweat streaked and sticky (with what, I'll leave to your imagination). All he wanted to do was take a nice long bath, but seeing as it was a river he doubted he could do so without some part of his body cramping from the cold. He kicked his clothes to the side and practically dove into the ice cold water so that the initial shock of the water hitting him would temporarily cover the ache of it nipping at his body. He scrubbed with a bar of cheap unscented soap and rinsed off quickly before he scrubbed at his scalp with his fingernails. All the time he was thinking. _Damn it! Why does that Kitsune get to me so much? Argh! I can't wrap my head around why I can't stop thinking about him! I'm letting my guard drop around him and I shouldn't, I shouldn't ever let my guard drop! 'A ninja never reveals his emotions for they can be turned against him for the worst.' _He sighed and walked up onto the beach scrubbing himself dry with a towel. He pulled his clothes on and slipped his cloak over himself glad for the warmth of it.

"Welcome back Itachi," Kisame said with a toothy grin. "Well you were gone I cooked up some fish, did the laundry, mapped out the entire Land of Fire and taught Naruto how to chew with his mouth shut."

Itachi glared at him which only got a laugh from Kisame. "I'm going to go take a quick bath, and then Sharky can go," Naruto said hugging his only pair of extra clothing to his chest. Itachi handed him a bar of soap and a towel from a random travel bag. Naruto smiled his thanks and walked off to the river.

"You sure he isn't going to run away?" Kisame asked with a slight frown.

"I think he's serious about staying. Who knows, maybe we won't have to kill him…" They turned their head to the river as a yowl came from that direction. Kisame narrowed his eyes then started laughing when the voice started to scream about how cold it was. Naruto returned soon after his face pink from the cold and scrubbing.

"How could you stay in that river for as long as you did?" Naruto asked Itachi incredulously. Itachi just shrugged slightly and threw another log into the fire. Naruto frowned slightly and got up. "I see that you're going to act anti-social around other people. I think that's quite alright, as long as you don't think that you can ignore me when we are alone. That happens, and I think you might just regret my retaliation to it," Naruto said with a smile just loud enough for Itachi to hear it. His beamed falsely then walked into the tent they had shared the night before. Itachi blinked and narrowed his eyes, _He's different then he was before… what has caused this sudden change in his personality? Did something happen at the village that changed who he is?_

Kisame frowned as he looked at Itachi before looking at the tent behind him. "Something happen between you two? Naruto didn't seem as sincerely happy as he normally does." Itachi turned his gaze away from the fire and onto Kisame's face.

He stood abruptly and walked into the tent where Naruto was, "Naruto?" he asked uncertainly. Naruto raised his hand to his face before turning and looking at Itachi, it was obvious that he had been crying.

Naruto took a deep breath, "Go away," he whispered with a pout. Itachi turned to leave. "You idiot, I don't want you to leave…" was the quiet comment that stopped the raven-haired man. "You don't always have to take things so seriously," Naruto tugged Itachi down. Itachi sat awkwardly and looked the blonde in the face, waiting. "I don't really want to talk about it right now… Maybe I'll tell you later." Itachi placed and arm around Naruto's shoulder in a silent attempt to comfort him. Naruto sniffed and snuggled closer to him, laying his head in Itachi's lap and stretching his legs out to the side. "Thank you for caring…" Itachi blinked.

"Sasuke please try to think rationally!" Kakashi said sternly looking at the younger shinobi, "I know you want to get Naruto back, we do too, but we can't just go charging off unprepared! You saw what happened when we were prepared, it's going to be harder getting him then it was getting you, even more so if they met up with the other Akatsuki members!" Sasuke glared at his masked superior but gave up his fight, going to sulk at the edge of the clearing. Sakura and Kakashi sighed in unison and smiled at each other weakly.

"He giving you trouble again?" asked Iruka walking up to stand next to Kakashi.

"Of course, why wouldn't he?" Kakashi sighed, "Friggen emo…"

"How you holding up?" she asked. Sasuke gave her a weak smile and she automatically recognized how alike he and Naruto were. She kissed the top of Sasuke's head in a very motherly manner, "Well, don't stress over it too much. We'll get him back no matter what it takes, OK?"

"Very well, _mother," _he said with a slight smirk. Sakura laughed and ruffled his hair before walking to a tent to join in with the paperwork crew. _She's matured a lot… I never noticed how different she is from before. I'm glad she's not hanging all over me though…_

**A/N: Well there you have it, the chapter that changed my story's rating! That somewhat risky lemon had me blushing while writing it! Is that normal to do? Well, oh well! R&R please, I would really like to here you're views on my story! If any one wants to give some ideas for a future happening I'll gladly consider them too, I starting to wonder how I'm going to bring the two groups together again!**


	6. Getting to Know Sharky and AN

Naruto yawned and laced his finger behind his head, "How much longer until we get there?" He asked loudly, not even glancing at Itachi.

"Ask again and I'll cut your tongue out…" Kisame said through gritted teeth. He didn't mean the threat though; the little ninja was starting to grow on him.

"So Sharky, hows about stopping for lunch?" Naruto unlaced his fingers and placed a hand on his growling stomach.

"Might as well before you start trying to chomp on something you shouldn't," Kisame grumbled as he glanced at Itachi. "What do you think Itachi?"

Itachi nodded slightly then twitched an eye. Kisame took the hint, "I'll go get some wood, be back in a minute." He took off whistling into the thin bushes looking for some good sized logs, taking more time then necessary.

"Why are you upset?" Itachi said with out hesitation.

Naruto glanced at him, "Why do you always act so damn anti-social around others? You don't care when you're with me _alone_. But the minute someone gets close you shut up and don't even blink when I talk to you," Naruto huffed and stuck out his lower lip.

Itachi caught a sigh before it escaped his lips, "It's one of the ninja codes, Do not show more emotion then necessary or it may be used against you; didn't they teach you that in the Academy?" Naruto shook his head.

"They might have, but I never really paid attention. If you want to know what they teach in the Academy ask Sakura, she knows almost everything," Naruto said before sighing. "Well, now that I know why you weren't paying much attention to me, I guess I can allow it. You got a good reason and all, I'll just have to get used to it."

Itachi nodded slightly and looked in the direction Kisame had wandered. He gave a sharp whistle and the ex-water Nin wandered back into view. "You done?" Itachi nodded in his non-nod way again and Kisame smirked. "Damn time, I thought I was going to be stuck out there a while!" Naruto frowned.

"So that's why you took more time then needed," Naruto said, "Fish Breath." He added with a smirk.

"I hate you."

"Oh, that hurts my feelings," Naruto said with a pout before smiling evilly. "There's a question I want to ask you, do you eat shark steaks?"

Kisame growled deep in his throat and kneeled down to start a fire. Naruto started laughing and Itachi blinked. Naruto looked over at Itachi, "Do you like ramen?"

"If we get back onto this topic I'm going to separate your head from your shoulders…" Kisame growled as Itachi glared warningly at him, "It was just a thought!" Kisame defended himself against Itachi's unspoken scolding. He shrugged and continued to make a fire.

"There was a problem in your statement, Sharky," Naruto said cocking his head and frowning.

"What would that be?" Kisame asked raising an eyebrow.

"Technically you can't separate my head from my shoulders since it's connected to my neck not my shoulders… so you'd have to be trying to remove my head from my neck or my neck from my shoulders… not my head from my shoulders," Naruto said blinking. Kisame stared at him for a moment before roaring with laughter. Itachi resumed the building of a fire as Kisame attempted to wipe the tears off his face that had resulted from laughing to hard. Naruto just glared at him.

"At least you tried to sound intelligent," Kisame managed to sputter out during his bought of laughs, Naruto just blew air threw his nose like an angry bull.

"Like you would know what intelligent sounds like," he muttered under his breath, Kisame glared at him and Itachi couldn't help but give the slightest of smirks, he bent his head slightly down so that the collar of his cloak would hide it from view. Naruto caught the quick flash of Itachi's smirk before it ducked behind the black cloth of the cloak and smiled widely, now he had something to call Itachi on.

Soon they were eating fish beside a dying fire, "Why are we always eating fish? It's getting kind of boring…" Naruto complained spraying chewed fish everywhere. Kisame grimaced and flicked a small piece of fish of his cloak as Itachi looked out the corner of his eye at Naruto who had resumed chomping on his food.

"Because it's the easiest thing to get around here, soon we're going to be living off of plants and small animals as we move higher up," Kisame said with a yawn as he pulled the Samehada into his lap and began to unwrap it.

"Whatcha doing?" Naruto asked cocking an eyebrow as he studied the Samehada's razor sharp spikes.

Kisame didn't look up as he expertly lifted the sword with one hand and began to inspect every nook, cranny, and plane of it. "I'm making sure that there are no scratches, nicks or shavings on it. I also want to wash the wrappings on it soon, either that or replace them, that way the Samehada is protected from rocks and such until my next battle," He murmured running a finger delicately over the smooth side of on of the spikes to rub off a small speck of dirt. Naruto nodded slightly.

"How did you learn to use such a big sword?" he asked after a little while. Kisame glanced up at his serious face.

"Interested in it are you? Well let me tell you, many years of practice, training and muscular building. It's definitely not as easy to use a sword as large as the Samehada as I make it seem!" Kisame smiled slightly as he looked at his sword with pride.

"Well, it is pretty obvious that you are talented with swords fighting, I did some research on you guys. You're one of the… um, what did Sakura call it….. Seven Swordsmen of the Mist! That's the name she said! And then Itachi over here is the Uchiha prodigy or what ever… I didn't really understand everything I read or heard, but I can remember most of it…" Naruto said narrowing his eyes and chewing thoughtfully on his lower lip. Itachi narrowed his eyes in amusement at Naruto's admittance that he didn't fully understand everything he had learned, though the fact that he could remember the information was clearly surprising to Kisame.

Kisame chuckled, "So, after we left you alone you decided to find out as much on us as you could…" he said shaking his head slightly, "Did you think it would help you face us?"

"No, personally I didn't think it would help diddly squat, I just wanted to know how powerful it was said that you are. Though clearly, their understanding of you guys if limited only to the battlefield. I didn't find a single mention on Itachi's anti-social syndrome or your strange sense of humor and hate of shark jokes!" Kisame chuckled again and Itachi made a movement that just barely qualified as shrugging his shoulders as if he was agreeing to Kisame's snickers. Naruto smiled and rubbed the back of his head laughing quietly, "No, but seriously, I really don't think that they have the right information on you guys. According to my experiences with you guys, you're both way more powerful then they've documented!" Kisame's face shined with the praise and Itachi just muttered a slight humph. They sprung to their feet as a slight rustle in the bushes beside Naruto distracted their attention.

**o&l: Thanks for pointing out the small problems in my story, but I must say, some of them were intentional. ;P I'm not going to give everything away right now, but the ANBU not putting up a great fight like they should have, Naruto, Kisame and Itachi being so open with each other, and how their fighting style was blended together so well…. Well actually the last part I can explain now. Obviously, because of how long Itachi and Kisame have been working as partners they know how to fight side by side with out getting in each others way, and Naruto has always had a three man team. Therefore Kisame and Itachi just simply angled their poses when Naruto joined the defensive stance so that they could make room for him. And Naruto didn't even have to think about the stance, he just acted on habit of taking a triangular stance since he would have done the same thing if he was in a group with Sakura and Sasuke (or in the manga right now, Sakura and Sai). I know that I forgot to add small little details that would make it seem like they had some slight problem fighting together, but I guess that they didn't really fight together as much as I made it seem. And the whole problem you found with the Mangekyou will be explained in the next chapter… . sorry that it seemed liked I've had so many mistakes; I'm doing some of it on purpose. Except for the slight OoC on the Akatsuki part, but I'll figure out a way to put them back in char with out it seeming like too big of a change in their attitudes.**

**Well, see you all next chapter and I'll try to fix my tinny tiny mistakes! (Still looking for a beta, so if any one wants to offer I would appreciate it!) Also, I am offering a probably once a story thing… the 35 reviewer that I get will get an one-shot (if I don't think up too complicated of a plot) story to them involving any characters or plot they desire! However, I will not do any more of a sex scene that a risqué pg16 which just happens to be my own rating! I will work hard on making the next chapter tie up some loose ends that I almost forgot about, but don't worry, as every problem will be coming to an end soon… and then more will arise!**


	7. Carboncopy Naruto, Motherly Sakura

The three jumped to their feet as the bush continued to rustle. Kisame held onto the handle of the Samehada with a relaxed grip, but his face was showing otherwise. The bush stopped it's quivering as a small clay statue rolled out from it. Itachi bent down and picked it up, "It's one of Deidara's all right," Kisame said looking at it. Naruto just blinked. "He must have a message for us if he sent something that could have given away that he was here."

"He can wait until morning…" Itachi said. Kisame nodded and set the Samehada down as he yawned and returned to looking at the fire.

"Who's Deidara?" Naruto asked blinking again. Kisame laughed before beginning to explain.

…………………………

Itachi looked up ahead, "I'm going ahead to tell them that the Kitsune is going to be there soon," he said looking at Kisame who only nodded. Naruto grunted and rubbed his eyes, it was early morning and he was still partially asleep.

Kisame looked at the "captive" and smirked, "Not a morning person are you?"

"Shut up Shark face," Naruto rubbed his eyes again, "Even without brushing my teeth for three days I have better breath then you ever could."

Kisame smiled, "Still witty this early in the morning huh?" he said with a teasing manner. "I'm surprised you're witty at all to tell truth."

"And I'm surprised that you actually know how to be surprised, how long did it take for you to figure that function out?" Naruto yawned widely and looked around. "It looks rocky."

"No shit Sherlock, we're in the mountains."

Naruto blushed at his stupidity and looked for something to bring up another topic, "How did you get your sword?" he asked waiting for Itachi to return. Kisame grunted.

"Too long a story to tell right now," he said stifling a yawn the best he could.

"You're not a morning person either, huh?" Naruto said with a chuckle as he nudged Kisame in the ribs. Kisame growled yet again before he lengthened his stride. His face was eager for some reason and Naruto furrowed his brows. "What's got you all excited?"

Kisame glanced back at him, "The idea of a real bed," he retorted with a dreamy look. Naruto had a feeling that he was longing after the privacy of a room to himself, he grimaced remembering how Kisame had been murmuring in his sleep about sushi the other night. Itachi reappeared in front of the two with an aggravated frown on his face.

"We have to head back, the base was found out by the Rock nin. Deidara and Tobi will be joining us shortly for the trek to the new base in the Land of the Wave." Kisame frowned. "Let's get going, it's going to be harder on the way back…" he resumed his quiet anti-social self as he started walking down the path they had just come from.

Naruto's mouth fell open, "The Land of the Wave; that means that we have to either trek through the Fire Country or Sound Country. Both seem rather unpleasant," Naruto wrinkled his nose. Itachi glanced at Naruto.

_This must be hard for him, not only knowing that he is most likely going to die soon, but that he has to go through the place he once called home in order to get to the place where he will die. I never considered or cared how this might affect him before, why am I thinking about it now? This should just be another mission; I shouldn't have to care about this. _Itachi's frown deepened as he became lost in his thoughts. Naruto and Kisame started carrying out their own conversation as they waited for him to snap back. They didn't have to wait long for that to happen.

"Hey!" shouted an energetic young boy with a mask on as he bounded into the group. You could tell he was smiling by the tone in his voice as he began to tug on Kisame's sleeve asking if they had any ramen. "Deidara-senpai won't buy me any and he said that if I got any he would lace it with poison, so do you got any?" A blond man melted into the group as the wind blew his long hair behind him. Naruto sneezed as he sniffed the smell of clay radiating from the man and he stepped back.

"Problem, un?" the man said turning to him.

"Sensitive nose and you smell like clay." Deidara just shrugged, Naruto took another sniff of the air, "Do I smell rose fragrance?" he asked sniffing the air. Deidara flushed.

"I sprayed Deidara-senpai with some a little while ago to try and make the clay smell go away!" Tobi exclaimed moving away from Deidara who had moved his hand towards a clay pouch.

"I would have done the same," muttered Naruto to Tobi who only turned to look at him. Naruto smiled widely at him. They continued walking as they talked about ramen, at the same time they laced their fingers together behind their heads. Kisame and Deidara chuckled at how similar they were as the group continued towards Naruto's past home.

"Sasuke?"

"Hm?" Sasuke looked at the pink-haired kunoichi beside him.

"Your hair has peanut butter in it," she said trying not to laugh. Sasuke reached up to touch his hair only to make contact with a large gooey blob of the disgusting substance. Sakura smiled in amusement as he pulled his hand away and tried to shake it off. She sighed and grabbed his wrist and pulled a handkerchief from her supplies pouch. Gently she wiped off the mess from his fingers and then started to wipe it from his hair, being careful not to rub it in more then the tired teen had already.

"When did this happen? Sasuke asked quietly.

"When did what happen?" Sakura replied as she continued to clean the sticky mess up.

"You getting all motherly and mature," Sasuke frowned, "What happened to the giggling fangirl that was always following me around?"

"I realized that I was being dumb, if I really had loved you I would have taken care of you, not followed you around until you wanted to stick a kunai in my throat," she replied absent mindedly as she removed the handkerchief from his head and began to fold it up. "How did you get peanut butter in your hair anyways?" Sasuke shrugged,

"Probably during the food fight that started between Kakashi and Gai when he was making his morning report," Sasuke said with a yawn.

Sakura chuckled and smiled at him, "That food fight definitely was funny to watch though!"

"It was until we had to break it up," Sasuke said stretching his arms out. He blushed slightly as his stomach growled loudly.

"It's getting pretty close to lunch," Sakura said. She stood up and walked over to a group of kunoichi who were in charge of the food rations. The talked briefly and Sakura nodded, "Lunch in half an hour!" she shouted to the camp, she smiled when everyone shouted their happy responses. She ambled back to sit down next to Sasuke.

A large puff of smoke beside them alerted Sasuke and Sakura to Jiraiya's arrival. "Any new info?" Sasuke asked turning to look at him.

"Some good, some bad," Jiraiya said with a frown. "Good news is that their base was found out. Bad news is that they are heading back towards us."

"Isn't that good news?" Sakura asked with a slight frown.

Jiraiya shook his head, "It could be taken as such, since it's lengthened Naruto's time to live, but they are headed to a new base which means that if we do meet up with them, there's going to be a fight," he dipped his head, "Also, there is reason to believe that two other members of Akatsuki have joined their group, meaning that our plan to overtake them isn't going to work."

Sakura pursed her lips and Sasuke growled in frustration, "The others need to know about this," Sakura said after a short stretch of silence. She stood up and pushed a small piece of hair away from her face, she quickly wiped some dirt off of her clothes and walked to the tent that Kakashi and Iruka were sitting near talking.

She talked with them briefly and they both stood up shouting in anger as she explained to them the recent developments.

"We weren't ready for something like this! The ANBU who we had purposely act so weak are still partially recovering from their injuries! If they find out that they did all that for nothing…" Iruka shouted slapping a hand to his forehead. Kakashi tried to quiet him down and Sakura only hung her head.

"I know, Iruka-sensei, now please try to calm down," Sakura said, "The ANBU aren't rookies. They will understand that the setting has changed without warning, it does so all the time."

Iruka sighed, "I know, sorry," he said in a quieter voice his shoulders slumping.

Kakashi smooth his mask with a single gloved hand, "We'll have to come up with a new plan to get Naruto back. The only known thing we have going for us is that they aren't traveling as quickly as they are able to… most likely a side effect of Itachi using the Mangekyou so much in our last battle," The others nodded in agreement as Sasuke and Jiraiya walked over.

"Call the others together?" Sasuke suggested. Iruka nodded gravely, he was still sulking.

**A/N: I'm posting this without any betaing… bad me, very very bad me… I went through it with a fine tooth comb so I hope it's fine, but I'm still not happy about it not being betaed, oh well. I was getting angry PMs about not updating my stories lately so I figures, Oh, what the hell… I'll post it and get scolded later! Yay for Mitchis! Tell me if you find any thing wrong with my editing and some of the loose ends are finally starting to tie in… MWAHAHAHAHAHA!**


	8. I Don't Want To Lose Either Of You

Sasuke rolled his head trying to crack his neck. Soft hands pressed their fingers against the base of his neck gently hitting a pressure point that made his muscles relax. "Thanks," Sasuke said looking over his shoulder at the pink haired kunoichi. She shrugged at him before heading off to the other side off the camp to deal with some minor arguments. Sasuke frowned as he watched her go, something had changed while he was away… and somehow it was still changing. He turned his head to the pink sky and pursed his lips. _I can't say that I didn't miss them while I was with Orochimaru… but it feels like they're still distant and trying to figure out who I am and how to act… Hell, I'm still trying to find out who I am. Maybe this new Sakura is for the better. But I still haven't seen how Naruto has changed; he hides everything behind that fake goofy grin of his. He so good at hiding things from everyone else, like he has a mask on, _Sasuke blinked and tapped his lips, _is Sakura wearing a mask as well? Am I, and if so, what type of mask do I wear? _Sasuke paused and looked towards the woods to his side. Something was there that he couldn't identify. Casually he strolled over acting as if he was still thinking. A flash of tan caught Sasuke's eye and his head snapped to the side to see something that he had never wanted to again. A small clay bird looked up at him and in a puff of smoke it was the same size as him. "Take cover!" Sasuke shouted as he ran from the clay figure that was waddling into the camp. Everyone followed suit of ducking behind sturdy objects and kicking away some flammable objects. The clay bird gave a small whistle before it exploded. The force threw people against the objects behind them.

"Sasuke!" The raven haired boy didn't even stir as Sakura called. The girl knelt down beside him favoring her burnt arm. Sakura bent down with her ear near his mouth, nothing. Tears formed in her eyes as she pushed chakra into her hands, "There's still time, it hasn't been that long…" she whispered placing chakra laced fingers onto his chest. The problem was easy enough to fix but Sakura didn't know if it would help. She placed her ear back down to his mouth… still not a single sound. A scared cry escaped her throat and she pressed her lips to his forcing air into his lungs. She breathed into him again watching his chest move upward. She pulled away feeling a slight bit of resistance. "Sasuke?" the boy took a shuddering gasp and began to cough. Sakura helped him turn onto his side just in time; he began to vomit on the ground before him. "Sasuke," Sakura whispered a tear sliding down her cheek and falling onto his. He turned his face to look up at her.

"Why are you crying? I'm alive aren't I?" he said with a questioning look. His answer was being pulled up into her arms as her tears began to flow in a thicker stream. Sasuke closed his eyes and allowed himself to be practically crushed, "I thought I swore that I wouldn't leave again… didn't you believe me?"

"Of course… of course I believed you; I was just so scared that you wouldn't come back to me…" Sakura gasped as she tightened her grip around him. Sasuke winced slightly, but not because of the hug… because he had never realized how much she cared for him. He chewed on his lips for a moment before pushing himself out of Sakura's arms. Sakura looked confused for a moment and even more so when Sasuke pulled her into his arms. Fingers laced themselves in pink hair and Sasuke held the crying girl against his chest. Sakura could feel the steady but somewhat weak beat of Sasuke's heart against her chest and she began to relax, her head fell against his shoulder.

Sasuke squeezed her gently, "I'm never leaving again… I won't leave you," he whispered before pulling back slightly to look Sakura in the eyes. He smiled and leaned forward pressing their lips together. Sakura gasped slightly and then began to kiss back hesitantly. Sasuke pulled away then reunited their lips; he molded his lips over Sakura's soft ones. **(Ewwww, he probably tasted like vomit!)**They pulled away again and Sasuke held her at arm's length. "There are other people you should be helping… I'll be fine." Sakura nodded weakly then stood up to wander off to a random injured person. She knelt down her head once again clear and dove into the work of healing a broken arm and numbing the pain as much as she could without draining herself.

…………………………….

"Did you avert their attention?" Itachi asked when Deidara rejoined the group. Deidara just smiled evilly at him.

"Mission accomplished, un," he said flipping his hair out of the way. Naruto frowned somewhat sniffing a strange smell on the air. He slowed his walking sniffing the air furiously, he was positive of the smell now; Explosives and burning wood, but something else as well… cooking meat? He froze his eyes wide. Tobi crashed into him and they fell to the ground. Naruto still didn't make a single noise as he untangled himself from the other boy's cloak and sniffed the air more.

"Sakura…" he whispered finally and took off running into the brush.

"Hey!" Kisame shouted and took off after him. He soon found several hundred Narutos, each with the same amount of chakra flowing through them… all headed towards one place. "Damn that kid's better then expected…" Kisame said under his breath as he kicked a few near him. All three disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Kisame, once again your way is inefficient and unnecessary. Follow me," Itachi said coming up beside the shark shinobi. Kisame nodded knowing that Itachi's sharingan could see through Naruto's jutsu. They wove their way through several shadow clones only attacking when they were attacked. Tobi and Deidara followed close behind them making sure not to waste their chakra or energy in case they had a fight on their hands in the near future. They arrived not much later in a clearing completely void of anything except for a large scorch burn near one end. Naruto was gone as well. Kisame swore as his eyes searched around, even Itachi's sharingan couldn't see what was in front of them. "What is this jutsu?" Itachi said, his voice giving away his inner panic.

"It's not a jutsu," a clear female voice filtered into their ears. Itachi froze when he felt a hand on the back of his neck. "It's simple medicine," the voice whispered into his ear as a warm sensation began to flood through Itachi's body.

"Don't touch him!" screamed a voice from the middle of the clearing as Naruto landed. Sakura pulled her hand away quickly and made to jump towards him. Naruto back up a few steps and Sakura froze. "Don't touch any of them and don't touch me. Don't even come near me, Sakura, don't even come near me." Sakura let out a strangled gasp at his words and stumbled back a little. Itachi and Kisame took a few steps forward. Naruto didn't move, it was almost like he was waiting for something. Itachi fidgeted slightly, it looked almost like he was shrugging, before walking forward and standing beside the boy. Naruto flinched as a pale hand was laid on his shoulder. "Sorry," the blonde murmured.

"Don't be, let's just get out of here," the Uchiha said. Naruto nodded as Kisame came to stand beside him.

Kisame jerked his head up and the three jumped into the trees. "Hurry, they'll be sending someone after us soon," the ex-mist nin said. No one responded. Kisame glanced over and almost fell as he noticed Itachi grabbing Naruto's hand. He knew better then to say anything though.

Naruto gave the pale hand a slight squeeze and smiled before pulling his hand away and putting on an extra burst of speed. The two glanced at each other before following suit.

"We finally stopping, un?" asked Deidara as the group stopped near the gate to a small village. Itachi nodded once before walking in pulling Naruto by the sleeve into a clothing shop. The group blinked in unison.

"Pick some new clothes, no orange!" Itachi ordered Naruto who pouted before setting about the ordered task. He picked several different outfits each as outrageous as his original and presented it to Itachi. "No," was the simple reply before Naruto was handed a bag full of plan black clothes. He frowned and searched through the selections briefly.

"Why do I need new clothes anyways?" he said emerging from the dressing room clad in his new outfit.

"The orange was too noticeable, we're trying to be stealthy," Itachi said flicking the back of Naruto's head gently. Naruto looked at him with wide eyes.

"Holy crap; is hell freezing over or something?" he asked, Itachi frowned at him to hide the upturning of the corner of his lips. "First you keep talking to me and you just hit the back of my head, playfully!"

"You're an idiot," Itachi said simply before exiting the shop followed closely by Naruto.  
"You done?" asked Tobi as the two joined back in. Itachi just glanced at him.

"Next stop, the tea house, un!" said Deidara pointing straight ahead.

"And where would you be pointing?" Kisame grumbled.

"I don't think he knows where the tea house is," Tobi mumbled to Naruto.

"I don't think he will even if we show him," Naruto whispered back. Deidara glared at them.

"Maybe I should assign you both a cause of death, un," Deidara said. Naruto and Tobi started laughing.

"Promises, promises," Kisame interjected. They cracked up again as Itachi watched the interaction with a smirk.


	9. Together For A While! The Hunt Continues

"I'm going to find us an inn, you guys feel free to enjoy yourselves," Kisame said standing up from the table. The owner of the restaurant shot him a quick look before returning to the table he was wiping down. The other's nodded at him before returning to their previous conversation on Deidara's hair.

"Kisame," Kisame looked over his shoulder at Itachi. Itachi blinked once and tapped his fingers with a raised eyebrow.

"Got it," Kisame said with a small nod. _I'll remember to get them a room on the other side of the inn. _He quickly left the inn only to run back in and duck down under the table.

"What's up with you Fish-face?" Naruto asked while swallowing a large mouth-full of rice.

"Do not let her see me!" Kisame whispered looking up at them through the small space between the table and bench.

"You mean us!" Deidara said looking at the girl who was entering the tea house. Everyone but Naruto and Itachi disappeared in the direction of the men's room.

"Kisame-kun! Where'd you go sweetie?" said a teenage girl as she looked around. Her eyes settled on Itachi, "Oh! Itachi-chan, do you know where Kisa-sweetie went?" she looked at how many dishes were on the table, "Do you have someone else with you? It looks like Deidei-chan and Tobi-kun were here as well. Where did they run off to?"

"Who're you?" Naruto asked turning to look at her.

"The only fear of Akatsuki, Mitchi," Itachi murmured. Naruto suppressed a giggle.

"Yep, I'm Mitchi! Itachi-chan is the only one I leave alone though, he almost broke my arm the last time I glomped him!" the girl said with a giggle as she smiled widely. Naruto gulped, she looked even more like a freak then the Akatsuki that he had met already.

"Mitchi, I think they're hiding in the bathroom," Itachi said picking his cup up. The girl squealed and ran into the men's room. There was a loud slam and several angry shouts as Kisame dissolved out of the wall and slammed the door shut after her.

"Chair!" Tobi said passing it to Kisame who blockaded the door with it.

"Now that that is out of the way, let's get out of here, un!" Deidara said as he grabbed the sides of his cloak and rushed out the door followed closely by Kisame and Tobi. Naruto and Itachi followed at a more leisurely pace.

"So that'll be three rooms, two with separate beds and one with one bed?" confirmed the hostess at the counter. Kisame nodded and handed the money to her, she pressed the three sets of keys into his palm. "Have a nice night," she said with a smile as she dropped the man's hand. Kisame nodded again and the group set off to their individual rooms.

"We're in room 310," Itachi said to Naruto as he held up the key. Naruto smirked and laced his fingers behind his head. Itachi smirked slightly and lead the way to the room. Naruto entered the room and blushed slightly noticing that fact that a bra was on the doorknob. Itachi sniffed and threw it out into the hall before closing the door and locking it. Naruto looked around the room briefly; soon a pair of strong arms were wrapped around his waist. Looking up Naruto smiled as he saw the Uchiha's face near his. Itachi may have been small, but Naruto was still a few inches shorter then he was.

Naruto twisted in Itachi's arms so he was facing the older male. Itachi smirked at him and they brought their lips together harshly. Their tongues tangled together as they slowly mad their way towards the closest bed in the room. Naruto was the first to touch it as it sharply pressed into the groove of his knee causing him to fall backwards and take Itachi with him. Suddenly a knock sounded at the door.

Itachi cursed loudly and pushed himself off of Naruto to see the damned soul who had bugged them. "What?" he asked curtly as he swung the door open. Tobi stood in front of him.

"Hi, um, do you know where Deidara-senpai went? I can't find him and he has my ramen," Tobi said shifting his weight onto the other foot.

"No," with that said Itachi glared at the boy then slammed the door in his face and locking it.

Naruto was still on the bed propping himself up on his elbows. He raised an eyebrow and shifted his hips slightly so that his leg was now on the bed as well, leaving one hanging off. It was then that Itachi noticed that somehow the jacket had come unzipped to expose the fishnet shirt Naruto was wearing underneath. (**A/N: -NOSEBLEED-)** Itachi smirked slightly and walked back over to the bed shedding his cloak along the way. As soon as he reached the bed he pushed Naruto onto his back and straddled him. Naruto smiled his goofy smile up at him exposing his many white teeth. Itachi shook his head slightly and bent down, latching onto a tender spot near the base of Naruto's neck. The blonde craned his neck to the side to make it more comfortable, barely managing to keep from gasping as he felt teeth make contact with his skin. A small drop of blood squeezed itself out of his skin only to be quickly licked up by the raven-haired man still attaching himself to the smaller boy's neck. Naruto felt his hands grab onto Itachi's shirt as the older man ghosted his hand underneath his shirt. The Jinchuuriki arched his back as cold fingers tweaked at his nipple and black eyes looked up to meet his blue ones.

Their lips clashed together and once again the battle for dominance resumed. Itachi gently ran his tongue across the younger one's lower lip, who gladly allowed him entrance to the moist caverns of his mouth. They both quested their partner's mouth before pulling away for a quick breath of air and returning to their tussle. Naruto pulled away and began to lift Itachi's shirt up. Itachi smirked slightly and pulled away. Catching the hem of his shirt before it could settle he pulled it over his head quickly and discarded it. Naruto smiled and admired the sight before him briefly before working on discarding his own shirt. It got stuck on his hair.

"Damn," he muttered tugged hard on it. Slender fingers slipped under the collar and carefully began to work it over the teen's golden trusses. As soon as the material was lifted off of his head Naruto donned his famous grin and started to chuckle. "Guess I'm still a goof, huh?" he joked. Itachi ran a hand down his cheek.

"Yes, you are." Soft lips captured Naruto's in a passionate kiss as Itachi deftly unbuckled Naruto's belt with skilled fingers. It too was discarded.

_Knock, Knock, Knock, Knock… _the door quivered slightly with the pounding against it. The two froze, "What are they doing in there?" Deidara's voice came through the door.

"Who knows," said a slightly gruffer voice, the tone in his voice gave away that he knew slightly more then he was letting on.

"Hn," was the grunted response. The banging once again resumed. This time Naruto feared the door would break from the force. "Open up or I'll…" there was a rustling noise and several shouts.

"Deidara! NO!" Kisame said loudly.

"Sempai, please stop!" Tobi's voice interjected. The was a slight scuffle and smoke filled the room as the door splintered. It forced the two back to their senses. Naruto dashed for the bathroom and locked the door behind him as Itachi activated his Sharingan and rummaged through his bag, which was set strategically in his lap. He was halfway through pulling out a clean shirt when the others barged in.

Deidara stopped in his tracks and stared at the topless form of a very agitated Uchiha sitting on the bed. His only visible eye was wide and he flexed the muscles in his jaw to keep it from hitting the floor. "Itachi, we need to go, now."

Itachi noticed the Artist's lack of grunting and pulled the shirt out all the way. He slipped it on quickly and went to the bathroom and pounded on it. "Naruto, hurry. We must leave."

Naruto emerged slinging his backpack over his shoulder. Itachi noted that he was wearing clean clothes and fought the urge to smile at him. Fighting the urge to smile was something new to the Uchiha and he turned away. "What's up?" Naruto asked the others looking past Itachi.

"That stupid toad sennin checked into the inn with Sakura and Sasuke in tow," Kisame said flatly. "If we don't want to be found out we have to leave," he continued. Blood red eyes snapped toward him spinning dangerously.

"Sasuke is here? Let's go." The Uchiha said stiffly grabbing his things and shoving them into his bag before briskly walking to the other side of the room and closing his eyes. He slowly opened them and his gaze flicked to Kisame.

The shark-nin nodded, "We'll have to go out the window, the Idiot Sennin is heading down our hall," he said shortly.

Red flashed in the hall way as Jiraiya passed the room. The lack of door caught his eye and he stopped short. Sakura cursed loudly as she crashed into him, Sasuke's voice soon following hers. 'What happened here?" the old man wondered out loud and he stepped into the room. The window was open and the curtains blew in the wind. Jiraiya noticed a small piece of orange that had been hastily shoved under the bed and bent down to pick it up. Sakura gasped as she saw what the sennin had found.

"Naruto," Sasuke said as he stared at the jacket being held up.

"They were here," Sakura said dumbly.

"And it looks like they ditched the orange," Sasuke added stiffly. He walked to the window and looked out, a small scuff was apparent on the black slate of the roof below it. Carefully he climbed out of the window and inspected the mark. "It's recent, we must have just missed them. Perhaps we could find them again?" he suggested.

Jiraiya shook his head, "We need to check when they checked in to see how far they might have gotten." Sasuke glared at him but climbed back in the room none the less.

"It looks like they checked in not more then half an hour ago, there were four Akatsuki member and Naruto," Sakura said as she studied the sign in book in the lobby. Jiraiya nodded and Sasuke's eyes flashed.

"We need to get the others, then we'll start tracking them again." Jiraiya turned from the two and walked out of the door, "Though if someone with the Sharingan could pick up on their trail and stay out of their range, I couldn't stop him…" Sasuke smirked and followed him out of the inn. Sakura hesitated.

"I'm going back to the room to try and figure out what happened to the door," she said. Jiraiya waved a hand at her. Sasuke was already gone.

**A/N: Sumimasen! I'm really sorry for how late this chapter is! I told a few reviewers that it was going to be out last Friday, but I ended up having to help with the renovation of my parent's kitchen! It really set me back on my schedule! Again I'm really sorry, I added the make out session to try and make up for it… but I still think that it kinda sucks… Oh well, I'm trying my best and I'm really sorry about how short it is as well. Normally my chapter are at lest five pages long and this on was only four! Ack, it's horrid. Not only is it late, but it's short! Unforgivable! –Bawls in corner with particularly violent looking spoon-**


	10. PMS to HYS hot Yaoi Session

**YES YES I KNOW!!!!!!!!!! This chapter is so incredably long to update, expecially since I finished it just now. School has had me realy tied up lately, and for that I'm TRULY sorry! So I threw in some fun stuff, and lookies! It's long!!!!!!!!!!!!! le gasp! Heh heh. Forgive me please, my dear readers?! I'm bowing, even though you can't see it! Ah! I'm so sorry it's so late!**

**Disclaimer: ------- isn't it kind of obvious? I own nothing but the lint in my pockets. Hell, even the ownership of these pants are questionable. They're my sisters!**

**----------------------------------------------------------------------------**

Sasuke sped his way through the town quickly, jumping from a roof to a tree branch, flipping across and jumping off yet another roof. All the while follow the small scoffs that came from a shinobi, who obviously had new shoes. He looked around, coming to a stop. "They're gone, trail's gone cold…" he said he crouching down to inspect the scuff. It was fresh, yes, but there was no direction to it, and no others in eye sight to help lead the Uchiha. He sighed and looked around again, sure enough, there was nothing. Activating the sharingan he cast a glance around again, but still, no clues as the where they were. He jumped back, heading for the chakra signature he identified as the sennin's.

Jiraiya looked at Sasuke as he landed with a small tap of the heel, "You lost them?" he asked. Sasuke glared and looked to the side crossing his arms over his chest. Jiraiya smiled and shook his head, "Back ups on the way, a shinobi who is trained to track is arriving as well."

"What clan?" Sakura asked already suspecting someone.

"Inuzuka," said Kiba leaned against the doorway. Sakura smiled and waved at him and Akamaru. "Where's the trail end?" he inquired glancing at the angsty Uchiha.

Sasuke beckoned a hand and took off, Kiba following closely. "This is where it ends," he said gesturing towards the scuff. Kiba nodded and bent down to sniff it.

"Smells like Naruto alright," he said. Sniffing the air he and Akamaru jumped down to the street and began to run as they followed the scent trail.

……………

"Thankfully we were smart enough to save his old pants, un," Deidara said as he and Tobi looked down on Kiba swearing as he found a pair of pants that had obvious drag marks on them. The two Akatsuki jumped away silently and made their way to the next town over. They stopped at a weapons shop.

"You lose them?" Kisame asked inspecting a large kunai that was about arms length. He twirled it in a large circle with a small smile. Deidara nodded and leaned against a wall as Tobi ran over to a weapons case to stare at a beautiful kantana.

"Tobi likes this one!" he said pointing at it with a smile that you could sense just past his mask. Deidara rolled his eyes. The masked nin turned back to the case and slid over, examining the others.

"We need to move soon," Kisame said. Itachi nodded in response as he and Naruto walked up. Deidara whistled softly.

Naruto stood casually in a black fishnet shirt, and tight black pants on. His kunai holster was neat on his right thigh, and a jacket was tucked under his arm. "Why do I have to wear this again?" Naruto asked the Uchiha as he rubbed his now bare forehead.

"Because I say so," Itachi whispered in his ear. Naruto blushed noticing the looks.

"Well… nice outfit Naruto." Tobi said finally breaking the silence. He shifted his mask so that it sat perfectly on his face.

"Where to now, un?" Deidara asked brushing off his shirt. Naruto looked at Itachi.

"The base, we have to go through the Land of Rice however. The Land of Fire had most likely enhanced their security on the borders." Itachi said with a small frown. Naruto hung his head slightly, his eyes faded with thought.

_The land of Rice…Orochimaru's old land. But he's dead now, or at least that's what Sasuke said. I just can't shake the feeling that he missed something. _Itachi looked over at him.

Naruto shook himself from his thoughts and looked out the window. "We really need to get moving." Itachi just stared at him. Naruto shrugged away and grabbed the pack he has set of the floor swinging it over his shoulder. "Well, are we leaving or not?" The others just shrugged and grabbed their bags as well, glancing at the Uchiha.

They were soon weaving their way through the woods, heading for the dangerous open plains. Naruto and Itachi didn't speak the entire time. Deidara and Kisame exchanged concerned looks whilst Tobi tried to strike a conversation up with Naruto. Giving up a few moments later he sped up to reach the blonde artist. "What's his problem Sempai?" he asked.

Deidara gulped and looked at the innocent thinking boy, "He's having a… problem with some things. He doesn't like being on the run and moving so often, he's confused."

Tobi nodded but didn't fully understand still. "Oh." The sun was beginning to set and the sky was aflame with colors that dyed the scenery around them team. Kisame halted and held up his hand.

"We should camp here tonight, why move any farther when all we'll reach is plains and no cover?" He said. Naruto nodded and dropped his pack on the ground. Soon they were setting up the camp, or at least most of them were. Deidara was sitting on a stone playing with clay instead of helping out; no one said anything to him though. Soon the tents were pitched and Naruto escaped from the others into his.

Tobi glanced at the tent worried, there was no visible light, so he couldn't tell if the boy was asleep or just sulking. "Should we call him to dinner?" he asked with a unseen frown. Kisame stood and walked over to the tent.

"Hey. Ramen." He said. There was a slight sound of moving fabric but no reply. "Do you want any?" Kisame pressed; still no answer. Sighing the mist nin shrugged and walked back to the fire. He gave a look at Itachi, who was quiet as well. The three could tell something strange was happening between the two.

The Uchiha stood with a quit rustle of clothing and walked to the tent, entering without announcing himself. "What?" Naruto grunted facing away.

"You tell me." Itachi said flatly hunching over so his back wouldn't touch the tent's ceiling. Naruto refused to answer him, only serving to piss the raven haired man more. "What's wrong? Are you nervous about traveling through the Land of Rice?" he continued. Naruto turned to him and glared.

"You never get do you? Sasuke is the exact same way!" he said standing up as much as he could. "You Uchihas never think of anyone else's feelings, you're all about getting what you want with out a care for anyone else!" he said, trying to keep his voice from rising.

Itachi glared at him, black eyes fighting to stay that way. "Naruto. That's not how it is at all. I do care, but I can't help you if you won't open up to me."

"You see! That's exactly what I was talking about. I've been open with you! I have been! You're the one who's never open! I can never tell what you're thinking or anything!" he said, losing the battle to keep his voice low. Itachi didn't even blink.

"You think you've really been open? I walked into the tent the other day and found you crying, you still haven't told me about what. You haven't told me anything Naruto. You don't always have to be strong! Just tell me what ever you want to tell me!"

"Don't tell you anything!" Naruto growled clenching his jaws together. "So says Mr. Big-And-Mighty-Won't-Even-talk-To-Naruto-In-Public-Because-I'm-To-Cool!" Itachi winced. "How do you expect me to talk to someone who never talks back?! Everyone is always like this! You expect me to share my feelings and thoughts but no one cares enough to tell me theirs!"

Itachi glared at him, eyes changing to red unconsciously. "You don't know anything Naruto. I've never been able to share with anyone because I've never had anyone! NO ONE!" he said his voice rising as well.

"Neither have I! I've been an orphan hated by the entire village! I had to literally FIGHT just to become a gennin! You've never had to feel that!"

"You're right I haven't! Perhaps I'd be a better person if I had. Your not the only person who's ever had it rough though Naruto! You're being the selfish one!"

Naruto flinched and went to exit the tent. Itachi grabbed him. "Naruto I didn't mean…" he started. Naruto growled and pulled from his grip, pushing the tent flap out of his way he ran out. Itachi sighed unsure what to do, so he followed him.

"Look, just leave me alone already!" Naruto said walking backwards and yelling at him. He spun back around and sped up. Itachi could feel three sets on eyes on them and he glared at them.

"Naruto! Look, I didn't mean it like that! Now please, just hear me out!" Itachi pleaded following him. The blonde broke into a run. Itachi cursed under his breath and followed. "Naruto! Wait!"

"Just leave me alone! You've said all you need to already! I just want to go home! I'm sick of all this. Running away, fighting with my friends, why do you do this to me?!" Naruto shouted stopping and spinning his hands clenched into fists. "You're always doing this to me! Things are fine then you come and my heart skips beats! It's not fair!" he shouted, his voice echoing in the dead forest. Itachi froze, mere feet from him. He didn't know what to say. "It's always you! I never was like this and then you came and my mind didn't know how to process it! You're a bastard! You've always fucked my life up! WHY THE HELL DO I LOVE YOU!!!" he shouted tears making their way down his face.

Itachi looked at him with wide eyes. "Naru-" he paused, not knowing what to say all he could do was stare. He could feel his legs shaking like jelly, thankful for the cloak that hid it. Naruto just stared at him with those blue eyes of his. "Tsukyoumi."

_The world was bathed in red as Naruto looked around, it looked exactly the same as where they had been before, but the colors were all wrong. "Itachi, where are we?"_

"_In Tsukyoumi. My world." Itachi's voice sounded like it was coming from everywhere as it circled around Naruto. Itachi walked up to him and grabbed his hands. "What did you say?" Naruto gulped._

"_I said…" he couldn't bring his lips to form the words again. Itachi pulled him close against him. A hand on the back of his head._

"_You have me Naruto, I'm not leaving, ever. I'll be right here, I'll listen to you, I'll talk to you. Just trust me, I trust you, if only you'll trust me." Naruto's eyes went wide as he was pressed firmly against the warm chest._

"_You're lying. No one trusts me really; no cares like you're saying you will. YOU'RE LYING!" he said pounding on Itachi's chest, tears pouring from his eyes. "You won't understand, you don't understand. None of it! You don't understand the way it feels to have a demon inside you, to hear the whispers behind your back, to just be alone! You don't understand!" he said continuing his punching. Itachi just held him closer._

"_I do understand Naruto. And what I don't understand, I'll try to. I'll never push you away like they did. I'm right here." He whispered soothingly until the boy calmed down. His chest hurt somewhat, but Naruto was still in his arms. Still there, soaking his chest with tears. Itachi pulled away slightly and tilted Naruto's face up to him, wiping the tears away with a thumb. He bent down slightly and brushed his lips against the soft ones of the other boy. Naruto worked his arms up slowly and pulled Itachi's lips back to his, pressing them firmly together. Itachi fluttered his eyes closed ever so slightly and returned the kiss softly, caringly. His arms fell slightly to rest around the boys waist, hands on his hips ever so slightly as the scene around dissolved and started to become something else. Naruto was too busy to tell that they were now in a living room set up, complete with couch and TV. Gasping as he felt his back connect with a wall suddenly, he wrapped his legs around Itachi's waist. The Uchiha didn't mind the sudden weight he had to support as he used the gasp to capture the taste of Naruto's mouth, his tongue darting in and running over his gums briefly before running along the blonde's. Their tongues clashed together hungrily as Itachi took hold of Naruto's hands and lifted them above his head, holding them firmly against the wall behind them._

"_Itachi…" Naruto whispered as the raven haired boy pulled his lips away with a wet smack and began planting soft kisses against his neck. Itachi nipped at a small spot, leaving a small trail of blood that he lapped up softly. Naruto shivered in pleasure, craning his neck to the side. He shifted his hips slightly, the contact made them both muffle groans of pleasure and Itachi moved to Naruto's collar bone. The boy gasped again and squirmed a little, his wrists tingling where he felt the others hand. A pale hand made its way down Naruto's chest and slipped up his shirt ever so slightly. Goosebumps rippled across the tan skin as his back arched slightly, forcing that hand against it harder. He moaned as he felt the finger tips ghost across his nipples, slide down his abs and move across his hips. It was so teasing, but so wanted._

"_You really do like this, don't you?" Itachi whispered huskily. Naruto turned his head to the side as the Uchiha's breath slinked across his skin, leaving a moist trail. Naruto bite his lower lip and pressed his chest forward again, his hips moved as well. Itachi smiled and peeled Naruto from the wall and the couple dropped to the couch. Naruto closed his eyes as Itachi straddled him and rocked ever so slightly, brushing their groins together again. _

"_Ah!" Naruto wrapped his legs around Itachi and pushed his head into the cushion. Itachi smiled and rocked again, pressing harder this time. Naruto squeezed his eyes tight and rocked back. Taking the younger boy's hands into his Itachi raised them above of the boys head and circled his tongue in the hollow between his collar bones. The blonde squirmed, pulling at his arms, begging to move as well. Itachi just pressed his lips to his neck and slowly began to pull his shirt up and over his head, pulling away only long enough to discard it. Naruto craned his neck to the side and pressed his chest up against the older man's. Itachi ghosted his fingers down it, brushing across his pant fronts._

_Itachi slid his cloak off his shoulders, dropping it to the ground. Naruto took advantage of the situation and slide his fingers across the now bare skin of Itachi's arms, taking grip tightly and as he felt teeth against his skin. Itachi murmured something and Naruto sucked air into his lungs at the suggestion. He felt his pants slid down somewhat and the tip of his member was exposed, quickly being covered by a pale hand. He shivered at the touch and pressed against the hand lightly, feeling cold fingers brushing at it before lowering into his boxers and sliding down the full member playfully. The hand wrapped loosely around his arousal and stroked upwards, tightening it's grip ever so slightly. The blonde gripped Itachi's arms tighter and he screwed his face into a look of pleasure and pressed his head back farther, his hips lifting._

_Smiling against the soft skin, Itachi stroked again, twisting his hand slightly as it moved upwards. Naruto made a small sound of pleasure in the back of his throat and Itachi smiled more, repeating the motion and his lips resumed their quest of the neck and shoulders. His tongue flicked out ever so slightly to taste the sweat forming on the tan skin and quickened his motions ever so slightly. Naruto leaned his head forward, burying it in Itachi's shoulder and biting it in pleasure, another soft noise emitting from him. The raven haired man quickened his strokes even more, gripping just the slightest bit harder as he leaned his head against the blonde's, savoring the feeling of his soft tresses brushing against him._

_By now Naruto was gasping and still getting harder in Itachi's hand. "I… tachi…" he whispered pushing his hips up again. Itachi smiled and pushed his own pants down, unnoticed._

"_Yes?" he whispered evilly, his hand never pausing._

"_Mo…re…" the teen gasped. Itachi nodded ever so slightly and pulled his torso away and he worked Naruto's pants off the rest of the way and pressing against him. Naruto bucked up against him, tossing his head back down to the pillow as the hand removed itself and the two erections rubbed together. The heat from the friction was unbearable to both of the males as they crashed their hips together again, their actions quickening in their pace. Itachi shuddered in pleasure as fire rippled through his body at the touches and he pressed harder, increasing the friction. Their actions were causing their breathing to quicken and shorten as sweat beaded on their skin, leaving wet trails as they fell. Naruto moaned loudly, his nails digging into Itachi's back, drawing small droplets of blood._

_Itachi winced at the pain but didn't falter other then that as he pressed more, his elbows creaking as his body rocked. He crashed to his elbows, breathing heavily against Naruto's shoulder as he bowed his head in pleasure. They pressed together a few more times before their bodies both shook as they began to come. The sticky mess splattered across their skins as their movements topped fully and Itachi rolled over to lay beside Naruto, his chest heaving in exhaustion. Naruto looked over at him and smiled. The Uchiha smiled wider, "Only 71 hours and 59 minutes to go…" he whispered with a chuckle. Naruto's eyebrows shot up with a wide smile._

The two returned to the real world, breathing heavily all of a sudden as their muscles suddenly felt like water. Itachi leaned against a nearby tree as Naruto flopped to the ground, laying on the cool ground. "Holy fuck…" he whispered. Itachi just chuckled, trying to catch his breath as he closed his eyes ever so slightly. Leaves crunched loudly as Naruto shifted slightly, now fast asleep. Itachi stood up, forcing his body to work properly. Sliding his arms underneath the blonde he picked him up, holding him tight to his chest and walking back to the camp. Kisame and Deidara looked up at him with a knowing smile that was returned with a stern glare. Ducking into the tent he laid the boy down and sat in the corner, watching him with black eyes, once again.


	11. My Angel Doesn't Sound Too Bad

**GAH! SUMIMASEN! I like… completely forgot about this story! I feel horrid!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So here's the next incredibly progressive chapter to try and make up for being such a horrid updater! YAY FOR AN ACTUAL PLOT (finally)!!!!!!! :D More then a year of nothing! GAH! I feel so horrid, but here's an uplifting message… I think my writing style has improved! –Le GASP- xD**

**R&R**

**Disclaimer: Hnnn…. Nothing here is mine my friends…. NOTHING. Not the characters, the show, the molecules in the air. Nope. None of it. Not mine. Sad Mitchi.**

Naruto squirmed some as he awoke, sore all over his body. It was like trying to move through molasses as he lifted his arm up just enough to throw back his covers. Why was it that it seemed like a dream whenever he and the Uchiha fucked?

He didn't even want to think about that as he set about the seemingly impossible task of forcing himself to sit up. Tsukyoumi was a dangerous technique, even when used for pleasure only purposes it could drain chakra and energy easily. He blinked and looked beside him at a slight rustle. "Itachi." He observed aloud. The man didn't stir at all.

So the blonde had been right, the technique drained the Uchiha even more then it did him. Sighing he slipped back down, easily eavesdropping on the aimless conversation between Kisame and Deidara, and Tobi's snored from the next tent over. He couldn't fall back asleep, but god it hurt too much to move. He liked being here though, his lover's arm over his waist and the rhythmic breathing constant beside him. It was a pure bliss he had never experienced before.

Ignoring the little voice in the back of his mind that said he should get up and join the other two at the breakfast fire, he snuggled against the bare chest and sighed, eyes fluttering shut as his lips breathed out a single sentence. "Itachi… I love you."

There was a slight bit of tension in the chest Naruto slept on now as black eyes studied the tent ceiling above him. Was he supposed to say that three word sentence in return to the sleeping teen? Did he even know that he had been awake, not sleeping? He didn't know.

Wow.

Something the genius didn't know. He shook his head and pulled the gennin closer to his body, burying his lower face in the golden locks of the Uzumaki. Love. Was he even ready to let Naruto that far into his heart? To love him, like he could tell the blonde loved him? No. He couldn't love him like that, not yet… the placid frozen surface of his heart wasn't ready for that. No. Not at all.

But something was changing. Every time the boy would smile he felt his heart manage to produce a small frozen, stiff beat, cracking the ice with a sickening sound. How would love affect him when he was ready to accept it? . . . Would he ever accept it?

Pushing the thought from his mind he closed his heavy eyelids, begging for sleep to take him again before his mind got too far in the thought process for him to analyze his lover correctly. Sleep didn't take him though, its clear refusal to spare him the thought process was a nagging annoyance to the criminal as he cradled his angel. He liked the sound of that… his angel.

Kisame knew better then to wake the two. Surely death would accompany such an action. So he waited, making mindless chatter with Deidara, the second blonde in the traveling group. It was nearing noon and he was starting to worry. Surely one of them would be awake now, no? Standing with a groan he walked over. "Hey. You guys alive?" simple. To the point. And even a groan could answer that one. Two grumbled replies met his ears and he smirked and unzipped the tent enough to peek in. The two were entangled together; eyes closed and in each other's embrace. How sweet. But a quick analysis of their physical condition by eye only showed that neither was able to move today.

They would be late for their Leader, and of course neither male would be willing to be carried by someone. However, Pein was awaiting them, and keeping him waiting wasn't a good thing. So with a sigh he unzipped the tent flap fully and through a clean set of clothes at each other them. "Get dressed, I'll bring some food. We're leaving once you eat." No opinions were voices as Itachi waved a hand in partial agreement and Naruto snored lazily. Kisame simply chuckled.

Itachi was the first to speak. "I don't think I can move." Naruto snickered some.

"I know I can't." It was Itachi's turn to chuckle.

Kisame felt his eye twitch some and he shook his head. "Just… figure out how to get dressed, there is no way we're doing that for you dumb asses." He said, shaking his head some more before letting the tent flap fall back into place, cutting off the direct sunlight and replacing it with a slight glow of yellow through the water resistant canvas.

The Uchiha was the first to move some, grabbing the clothes and managing to bring them up to his pillow. Attempting to unfold them proved difficult with only enough energy to utilize one hand at a time and he ended up stuffing them under his head and re-closing his eyes. Naruto was next, forcing himself into a sitting position and tugging on his pants in slow painful movements, buttoning them with shaking hands. He might be able to go without a shirt. "'Tachi. You need pants at least." He said softly, his lips brushing over the other man's skin softly, like butterfly kisses against porcelain. Itachi grunted in recognition of the declarative statement and pulled the pants out from beneath his groggy head. The blonde snickered and flicked them open, shooing the covers from his way. "Lift your legs I'll help." He muttered absently, the Uchiha already maneuvering to a position in which his angel could tug the black fabric up over his boxer clad hips and fasten it.

It was with a sad recognition that both boys realized that any form of love making would be out of the question for a long while. Sighing Naruto flopped back down to the sleeping bag gracelessly, a small huff of air escaping from between his lips as his back made contact with the hardened surface that felt so comfortable for some reason. Most likely exhaustion. Groaning he turned to his side, slipping an arm around Itachi's waist and scooting himself close, inch by inch, until his forehead was pressed against the slender shoulder before him, and their legs resumed their previously tangled position.

They had been hoping for at least another half hours rest, but that was too much to ask for as Toby and Kisame pulled open the tent flaps and grabbed each one a tad bit roughly, flinging them over shoulders and walking them out to the dying fire, it's embers red and bright, even in the sunlight that faded it's true luster. Slightly burnt sausages were pushed into their hands, the grease making them slick and slimy, and small wooden cups of purified water thrust at them next. "We don't have long. We're behind as it is you two, un." Deidara stated with a slight scowl, his crayola yellow hair glistening some in the sunlight as he shook it free of its now broken red tie, pouting at hit with a slight curve of girlishly plump lips.

So what if they were late?

Naruto and Itachi had sure enjoyed the trip thus far.

Grumbling with a bit of disdain for being forced to move in such painful and pitiful states the blonde swallowed a little bit of his ego and opened his mouth for the sole purpose of consumption, taking in the slightly charcoaled nutrients that lukewarm breakfast meat had to offer. After this, they were being carried to the next camp site.

It would be a really bad time to be attacked if they had no strength and only three capable men to protect two others who had enough issues with having the energy to chew long enough not to choke at the current point in time. Traveling over the land of rice was not going to be pleasant, most likely bringing with it many levels of paranoia and painful memories to the Uzumaki boy. Memories he had wanted to forget once Sasuke returned to the village, but now that he was running from it, he understood some more of what his best friend had been feeling at the time, though not the hatred and feeling of desperation that the other had harbored inside his heart for so long.

Something heavy pressed against his shoulder and Naruto's eyes widened before the blue orbs flicked to the corner of his eye and he caught sight of Itachi's head resting against him for support. His lips twitched upward some and he turned his gaze to the ground, relishing the feeling of being loved and trusted enough that the Uchiha would willing display such affection for him, whether it be exhaustion driven or not.

Itachi shifted his head some, the raven locks grinding against the boys course black jacket as he nuzzled him, drawing warmth and comfort from the contact. So that was why couples seemed to enjoy snuggling so much, it brought so much comfort that he was actually enjoying it, mentally, emotionally and physically. Sighing he winced internally as he heard a proverbial groan of ice melting and shifting, cracking the surface. Such a blemish on an otherwise perfectly solid area, allowing for an insight of the depth below it, the emotions and weaknesses that he had trained so hard to repressed and rid of.

Fingers found each other, twisting and intertwining ever so loosely, the slender flanges fighting for the comfortable grasp and universal sign of love that they had been growing together over the time since Naruto's capture. There were no needed words anymore as Itachi tilted his head up some, his lips resting against the cartilage re-enforced ridges of the teen's outer ear and whispered a small sentence.

Three little words that changed Naruto's life forever. Something so small, he gasped and looked up from the ground with wide, fear filled eyes.

"Sasuke's behind us."

Dropping his lovers hand he twisted with surprising speed and almost feel backwards off the log as he came face to face with the youngest Uchiha. Where had the other three gone?

Laughing some Sasuke ruffled Naruto's hair, only to have his pale hand pushed away with a growl. "Hey Dobe, found you." He said arrogantly, like it was the best thing in the world.

Naruto knew the truth though. This was one of the worst things that could happen, for the most emotional of his pursuers to approach them, and catch his ex-lover holding hands with the brother he vowed to kill. Pretty much, it was exactly what it looked like, and the two were screwed, in the non-conventional meaning of the term of course.

Unable to fight back, or even run, both of them found rough gags being pressed between their jaws, chocking back insults and protests as scratchy ropes bound their wrists and ankles, wrapping around their bare torsos and restricting their already limited mobility. Seriously, where the hell had the other three Akatsuki members gone? The answer was apparent as Kisame winked at Itachi from high in a tree, pulling back and melting into the shadows.

Naruto growled low in his throat; great, it was a strategy thing. Fuck that, he didn't want to have to wait, he wanted to get away. But that was next to impossible in his state if he wasn't bound. The ropes simply ensured one thing, that he and Itachi were going to be stuck until their either recovered, or someone let them free.


	12. Forever Together

Sighing, Sasuke pushed his fingers back through his already wind tossed hair. Tussling the dark locks some he sighed, his shoulders slumping drastically as he looked around at the forest they had pulled back into. Sakura was currently fussing over Naruto, who was throwing a fit for some odd reason. Perhaps it was the fact that Itachi's bloody face was under his foot.

The gag was removed as Naruto lurched forward. "STOP IT!" he shrieked, tears coming to his eyes as he fought against Iruka's grasp. "STOP HURTING HIM!" he continued, his voice cracking with emotion as he struggled, wreathing and squirming to get away.

Sasuke winced, "He's a criminal Naruto." He said with a roll of his eyes, grinding the sole of his shoe into Itachi's temple some more. The blonde continued pleaded; tears streaming down his face and splattering across the ground, leaving dark circles where they hit. Itachi groaned some, the gag having been removed long ago.

"N-Naruto… it's alright." The broken man managed to wheeze, his eyes closed in pain as Sasuke looked down at him with disdain.

A foot made contact with Itachi's side and Naruto cried out. "I HATE YOU SASUKE! I HATE YOU! HATE YOU HATE YOU HATE YOU!" He shouted loudly, his throat tearing with the effort of it. "I FUCKING HATE YOU!" The words ripped, tore and shot barbs into Sasuke, leaving the Uchiha bleeding emotionally, just as his older brother was physically. Sighing he ground his teeth together and took a step back, relieving the pressure from Itachi's face with a slight pout.

"Whatever you say, moron." He said, his tone bored and distant, but forced as he slipped his hands into his pockets and stalked off.

Sakura looked back and forth between Sasuke and Naruto. "I'm sorry," she whispered, a tear at the corner of her eye. There was a bruise just visible beneath her shirt collar and she jerked the fabric over it quickly. "I'm sorry Naruto, I'm sorry…" she continued, before pulling away and following the youngest Uchiha, her pink hair flounced some as her feet pounded the packed dirt.

Naruto sobbed some, straining again to break loose from his old sensei's grip. Iruka pulled a kunai, pressing it against Naruto's throat briefly, "Hold still Naruto." He whispered, tilting the dagger forward and jerking upwards.

The ropes fell away easily and Naruto shook his arms out, launching forward and pulling Itachi into his lap, fresh tears continuing to pour. Kakashi was present now as Naruto stroked the bloody hair from Itachi's face, cradling the injured man as if he was a fragile and delicate being. "Are you alright?" he asked softly, knowing damn well that he wasn't.

Itachi smirked some, his split lip bleeding sluggishly. "You… cry too much." He said weakly, laughing some, but coughing as a crack rib shifted. Naruto gave a weak sob, his slight smile showing his be-grieved amusement.

"You ass. You're hurt, act like it." He whispered, hunching over and pressing their foreheads together. Itachi closed his eyes, tilting his head up some and kissing him lightly, the taste copper flooding both of their mouths as their tongues butted briefly. The sensei's traded a look of worry and both took a step forward at the same time, dropping to their knees beside the injured man.

"If Sasuke asks, he did it. You have a fractured rib. I don't know if I can locate any of the fragments. Don't move much, it might puncture a lung if you do." Iruka said as green flooded his hands, siphoning to the Uchiha's chest. Itachi gave a small grateful smirk as his hand closed around Naruto's, threading his bound hands with the blonde's free ones.

Kakashi glanced at Naruto, as if worried the blonde would bolt. He received a glare in return. "'S long as 'Tachi's here I'm not leaving Kakashi-sensei." Uzumaki replied with a slight pout. That was good enough for the silver haired man, as the Uchiha seemed to heal before his very eyes.

Itachi gave a weak cough, his hand gripping Naruto's tightly as he sat up, a few more coughs wrenching from his throat as the blonde cradled him tightly, rocking more for his own comfort then the other's. He could tell the Uzumaki was shaken, so he let the boy hold him so tightly, and small bit of warmth bubbling from cracks in the ice. Closing his eyes he sighed softly, his free hand gripping Naruto's clothing gently, as if he, the great Itachi Uchiha, was afraid to let go. The two men were gone.

There was a sudden cry, and the Uzumaki whipped his head to the side, staring with wide eyes as Sakura was thrown into a wall. "Wha-?" he started, before seeing Sasuke stalk out, headed straight for them. "Shit." He whispered, silently wishing he hadn't been stripped of weapons so he could free his lover. The younger Uchiha growled, eyes fading red as he stalked forward and grabbed Naruto by the hair, pulling him from under his brother and to his feet.

"Why? Why are you in love with him?" he growled softly, smirking at the gasp that escaped the boy when the rough wood of a tree met his back sharply. Naruto didn't respond, only clawed at his hand weakly, no energy even now. Sasuke pulled him forward then slammed him back, tears gathering in his unwilling eyes. "WHY?!" he shouted in the blonde's face, shaking him by the hair, ripping some out mercilessly.

It was then that Naruto spoke. "Because he… he's gentle, and kind, and NOTHING LIKE YOU!" he said, pain evident in his facial expression as the bark of the tree scratched at his skin. He cried out in pain as Sasuke's fist met his face and something hard pressed against his thigh.

"Gentle huh? Who are you talking about Naruto? HE KILLED MY FAMILY!" he snapped, his grip on the golden locks tightening and jerking again, wrenching another cry of pain. His free hand grasped between Naruto's thighs, tugging upwards tightly and roughly. "I love you Naruto." He said angrily, "And you fucking LEFT ME!" Squeezing tightly he gave another harsh stroke, feeling the member harden some beneath his touch. It was pure physical torture, and he loved inflicting this sort of pain on the boy.

Itachi couldn't do anything but watch weakly and angrily as his little brother hurt Naruto, slamming him against a tree repeatedly. Struggling against the ropes he growled low in his throat, catching sight of the hand at his lover's groin, stroking it harshly and without mercy. He was becoming angered, more angered then he could ever remember.

A moan escaped Naruto's throat as a hand met skin, tears forming at his eyes. "St-stop! No Sasuke! AH!" Sasuke didn't stop, he delivered a sharp twist, wrenching a whimper from the blonde. Grasping tightly he worked his wrist, drawing mewls from the crying boy beneath him.

"I-itachi…." Naruto whispered, hid vision clouded by tears as he struggled, trying to get away from the teen with a hand in his pants. There was a sudden gasp of pain, and a warm spatter hit across Naruto's chest, freezing him. "T-tachi?" he asked, stunned as hiss offender looked down.

"Heh… love you too… n-nii-san…" Sasuke whispered, looking at his chest with surprise as his shirt began to soak with blood. Itachi let a small whine escape his throat as he pulled the knife out, the only stopper for the blood flow. Holding Sasuke as an older brother would, he let tears come to his eyes as he sank to the ground.

Pale fingers stroked dark hair as Itachi cradled his dying brother, "Shh, stop trying to take, ototou." He whispered, remorse clear in his voice. He hadn't wanted to kill him, he knew it was one or the other the second he was captured, but still. Sasuke was getting worse, his eyes had shown madness in their depths, the spark of Orochimaru's torture coming to seed. But still. It had been his little bother, the boy he had fought so hard to protect his entire life, and he had just ended that precious life with his own weapon, with his own hands. He was stained.

Blinking rapidly, the blonde dropped to his knees beside the collapsed Uchihas. He couldn't think of any words to speak as he slowly closed Sasuke's now lifeless eyes, gripping Itachi's hand tightly at the same time. "W-we need to get out of here…" he whispered after a moment. Footsteps were approaching, slowly, but they were coming. "Tachi, come on. We need to leave." He tugged some, before realizing that his lover looked pale.

Itachi didn't know what was wrong, he could feel the tightness in his chest, feel the light headedness. Shaking the feeling off, he kissed his brother's forehead before standing, pulling Naruto along with him. "We need to get far away from here, and the othe Akatsuki members. Kisame is creating a distraction for us. If we bring you to the base, Leader-san will kill you." He said business like.

So that was why Kisame had winked when they were kidnapped…

Naruto nodded silently, repressing the tears and cries that threatened to spill at the loss of his former friend. Now was not the time for tears though. They had to run. Picking a direction to head in together, the two of them sprang forward, feet pounding the ground, before transferring to the trees.

Sakura came into the area where Naruto was being held and froze. "S-sasuke!" she shouted, dropping the tray of food and rushing forward. His body was still warm, but there was no breath left in him. She uttered a choked cry and pulled him close. "Sasuke-sama….. Sasuke-sama…." She whispered softly as the sound of rushing feet came towards her. The body was pried from her grasp as a white haired sensei pulled her back, holding her back as she kicked and cursed. "LET ME BACK TO SASUKE!" she shouted, tears falling freely as she slowly stopped struggling, giving way to sobbing freely. "Kakashi-san… Wh-why? WHY?!" she begged, twisting suddenly and attaching to him, letting her sorrow soak his vest shoulder.

Kakashi didn't respond, he just held her tightly. "Shhh. Now's not the time for questions Sakura. We need to get you to the tent ok?" he said softly, a fatherly tone in his voice as he nudged her in the direction of the medics tent. Hoping she wouldn't go into shock.

They had stopped for a second; Itachi was looking worse and wheezing now. "What's wrong?" Naruto begged, holding onto him and bouncing with worry. Itachi shook his head with confusion.

"C-can't breath." He managed to wheeze, his hand against his rib, knuckles white in pain. It was a bone chip in his lung, Iruka had told him not to move. But Naruto had been in so much pain, emotionally, he couldn't just lay and watch. Coughing, he winced at the bubble of metallic blood that came with it. "S-sorry Naruto." He whispered, as his vision went black and he dropped.

The Uzumaki didn't know what had happened. One minute Itachi was talking and looking fine, the next his was going cold and white on the ground. Shaking he pulled the man's body against him, tears welling in his eyes. "You did this to save me. You weren't supposed to leave!" he said softly, rocking and laying himself across Itachi's still chest. The tears slipped down, landing with no sound as the blonde continued crying. "YOU WEREN'T SUPPOSED TO DIE TOO!" he shouted suddenly, a fist striking out and hitting the dead body. Itachi didn't move, didn't wince, didn't even begin to bruise. He just lay there, his eyes closed, blood still in a small line from his lip to his chin. He wasn't breathing, his heart wasn't breathing.

He was dead.

And Naruto was alone. "NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO!" The cry echoed off the trees. "YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO LEAVE ME ALONE!" he cried, pounding his fists into anything he could reach; the ground, Itachi's body, trees, stones, himself, nothing was safe from the rain of anger and sorrow. "YOU WEREN'T SUPPOSED TO LEAVE ME ALONE!" he continued, repeating the phrase over and over as he shook, his breath coming in short quick breaths.

Someone had entered the clearing and was standing silently. "Naruto…" Iruka said, a small look of pity on the man's face. Taking a step forward, he reached out a hand. "Naruto, it's useless… come on, let's go home Naru. I'll buy you ramen and we can talk." He offered, trying to coax the boy from Itachi's corpse so that he could comfort him.

Naruto completely ignored him his hands now smoothing the hair from Itachi's face. "Don't come near me Iruka-sensei." He whispered softly. Something metallic flashed and a knife lunged through the air, must to Iruka's dismay.

Kakashi was stunned, his black clothes handing on his thinner then normal frame as he held Iruka and Sakura against him. His face was solemn and tear stained as he watched Lady Hokage choking on her own words in front of the village, three coffins behind her. Itachi was to be buried with Naruto. Sasuke and the Uzumaki's names had been added to the KIA stone. Itachi would have no mention anywhere but his grave marker. That was the way all three of them would have wanted it.

"I don't see why everyone's making such a big deal of this." Said a blonde, frowning as he looked at the scene before him.

A fair skinned raven haired man beside him rolled his eyes, and a similar man said at the same time, "Just shut up and watch Naruto."

The Uzumaki smirked. "Yeah, yeah, you two. Shut up and watch my own funeral. Because a ghost has nothing better to do."

It was Itachi's turn to explain, Sasuke had done so last time. "We're not ghosts Naruto. We're simply spirits waiting for re-incarnation."

"Or something like that nii-san."

"Something like that." Naruto muttered. "Oh well, wanna go see if we can eat ramen as dead people?"

Sasuke laughed and Itachi chuckled. "Dobe."

**;-;**

**I cried while writing the ending… like three times. Well, the ghostly trio. Have fun with the one in your brains. .**

**Sorry it came out so emo guys…. But this is how I planned the story from the start…. I was just expecting… ya' know…. Less fans to be reading and hoping for a happy ending. This is not a happy ending, unless the whole, eternity together with the one you love, is considered happy.**

**xD**

**So yeah….. bye bye. P.S. I might post some drabbles on the "Ghostly Trio" …under that title.**


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